The AfD faction files a criminal complaint against Chancellor Friedrich Merz

Berlin. According to its own information, the AfD parliamentary group has filed a criminal complaint against Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU). The reason for this was his speech during the budget discussions in the Bundestag on Wednesday, according to a press release from the parliamentary group.

In the debate, after sharp criticism of his policies from AfD leader Alice Weidel, Merz launched a counterattack in her opening speech. He literally said: "Millions of people with a migrant background also work in the trades. And if what you are propagating here were true, namely "remigration", which is nothing other than ethnic cleansing based on skin color and origin, nothing else..." The sentence was interrupted by outraged heckling from the AfD. Merz continued: “Ladies and gentlemen, the word “remigration” is nothing other than a synonym for ethnic cleansing based on origin and skin color.”

Merz enjoys special protection as a member of the Bundestag. According to Article 46 of the Basic Law, a member of parliament may at no time be prosecuted because of a statement made in parliament (indemnity). But there is one exception: slanderous insults. Although authorities are allowed to investigate a parliamentarian, the Bundestag must vote to lift the immunity of the person concerned when an indictment is brought.