Cash payments, embellished speeches: A court sentenced former Bundestag member Axel E. Fischer to probation for bribery
dpa | In the corruption trial surrounding the purchase of parliamentarians by Azerbaijan The Munich Higher Regional Court (OLG) sentenced former CDU member of the Bundestag Axel Fischer to a suspended sentence of one year and two months. The court agreed with the arguments of the public prosecutor’s office, which found Fischer convicted of bribing elected officials. The prosecution had called for a longer suspended sentence of one year and eight months, while the defense had pleaded for acquittal.
According to the oral reasons for the judgment, the court is convinced that Fischer, as a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (Pace) received tens of thousands of euros in cash over the years for pro-Azerbaijani behavior. Some of the payments are said to have been made before this was punishable. In return, Fischer, who worked at Pace from 2010 to 2018, gave positive speeches and forwarded confidential documents. The public prosecutor’s office relied on numerous pieces of evidence in the complex proceedings.
Fischer, who has been in custody since December 22nd, will be released with the verdict. The court had previously detained him because he repeatedly failed to appear at trials. The arrest warrant has now been revoked, explained the presiding judge Jochen Bösl.
The court also deprived Fischer of his right to stand for election for two years. During this time he may not be elected to parliament or to public office. The prosecution had demanded that he be deprived of both his active and passive voting rights for three years. Fischer also has to pay 12,000 euros to the Victim Support Foundation – significantly less than the 80,000 euros demanded by the prosecution.
Fischer, who comes from the Karlsruhe-Land constituency, had denied all allegations until the end: He had not received any financial or other benefits for pro-Azerbaijani voting or other behavior. He never “sold” his voice. The defense described the prosecution’s demand for punishment as completely disproportionate. In any case, it is only “supposed evidence” that the public prosecutor’s office has put together. Key witness statements were lies. However, the court did not follow all of this in its judgment – on the contrary, it did not consider Fischer’s or his wife’s statements to be credible.
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