Europe's news in English

COPY LINK

CRIME

Munich woman ‘murdered boyfriend with electric saw’

A 31-year-old woman has been arrested in Munich on suspicion of murdering her boyfriend with a circular saw. Two men are also in custody in connection with the grisly crime.

Published: 11 February 2016 15:28 CET

Munich woman 'murdered boyfriend with electric saw'

Police guard the property in Haar. Photo: DPA

Police found the body on the woman’s property in Haar in the east of the city after receiving a tip-off three weeks ago.

The victim went missing in 2008 and had been presumed to still be alive, after someone reported sighting him in 2010, the Süddeutsche Zeitung reports.

The woman and her current boyfriend were arrested after police dug the body up in her garden and are currently in custody.

Prosecutors believe the woman murdered her ex-boyfriend in December 2008 and that she acted alone.

They also believe that she took advantage of a moment in which her victim was defenceless to carry out a premeditated murder.

A third man has now also been arrested. The 34-year-old is not alleged to have taken part in the murder but police say he helped to dispose of the body afterwards – as did the the current boyfriend who is currently in custody.

The police believe the man, who was born in 1980, was kept in the woman's house for several months after his murder and was only buried the following summer.

Germany raids properties in bribery probe aimed at AfD politician

The investigation targets Petr Bystron, the number-two candidate for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in next month’s European Parliament elections, Der Spiegel news outlet reported.

Police, and prosecutors in Munich, confirmed on Thursday they were conducting “a preliminary investigation against a member of the German Bundestag on the initial suspicion of bribery of elected officials and money laundering”, without giving a name.

Properties in Berlin, the southern state of Bavaria and the Spanish island of Mallorca were searched and evidence seized, they said in a statement.

About 70 police officers and 11 prosecutors were involved in the searches.

Last month, Bystron denied media reports that he was paid to spread pro-Russian views on a Moscow-financed news website, just one of several scandals that the extreme-right anti-immigration AfD is battling.

READ ALSO: How spying scandal has rocked troubled German far-right party

Bystron’s offices in the German parliament, the Bundestag, were searched after lawmakers voted to waive the immunity usually granted to MPs, his party said.

The allegations against Bystron surfaced in March when the Czech government revealed it had bust a Moscow-financed network that was using the Prague-based Voice of Europe news site to spread Russian propaganda across Europe.

Did AfD politicians receive Russian money?

Czech daily Denik N said some European politicians cooperating with the news site were paid from Russian funds, in some cases to fund their European Parliament election campaigns.

It singled out the AfD as being involved.

Denik N and Der Spiegel named Bystron and Maximilian Krah, the AfD’s top candidate for the European elections, as suspects in the case.

After the allegations emerged, Bystron said that he had “not accepted any money to advocate pro-Russian positions”.

Krah has denied receiving money for being interviewed by the site.

On Wednesday, the European Union agreed to impose a broadcast ban on the Voice of Europe, diplomats said.

The AfD’s popularity surged last year, when it capitalised on discontent in Germany at rising immigration and a weak economy, but it has dropped back in the face of recent scandals.

As well as the Russian propaganda allegations, the party has faced a Chinese spying controversy and accusations that it discussed the idea of mass deportations with extremists, prompting a wave of protests across Germany.

READ ALSO: Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

Url copied to clipboard!