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CRIME

Tim Kretschmer’s father faces criminal charges

The father of the boy who killed 15 people in Winnenden last spring faces charges of negligent manslaughter for not securing the gun his son used in the rampage, the Baden-Württemberg state justice ministry in Stuttgart confirmed on Thursday.

Tim Kretschmer's father faces criminal charges
Photo: DPA

Tim Kretschmer took a high-calibre weapon on March 11 from his father’s bedroom and shot people at his former school and outside a mental health clinic where he had been treated.

Now his father faces 15 counts of negligent manslaughter and 13 counts of negligent bodily harm, Chief Public Prosecutor Klaus Pflieger said.

The public prosecutor’s office had initially planned on an order of summary punishment for Kretschmer’s father, which would usually carries a light sentence of one-year probation.

Pflieger declined to offer more details on the case.

The motive behind 17-year-old Kretschmer’s actions – which included killing nine pupils, three teachers and another person outside the clinic, then hijacking a car and shooting two other people at a car dealership – remains unknown.

Kretschmer turned the gun on himself during a shoot-out with police around 30 kilometres from the school.

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POLITICS

Germany raids properties in bribery probe aimed at AfD politician

German officials said on Thursday they had raided properties as part of a bribery probe into an MP, who media say is a far-right AfD lawmaker accused of spreading Russian propaganda.

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

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