Bavarian parliament lifts Alexander Dorow’s immunity

Bavaria’s parliament has unanimously lifted the immunity of CSU member Alexander Dorow so prosecutors can investigate a Facebook comment about the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage. Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) reported that the decision was taken during a plenary session on Wednesday.

The investigation concerns a comment Dorow posted last August beneath a Facebook post about the arrest of a man suspected of masterminding the sabotage. Dorow wrote that the man deserved a medal for having “solved a huge problem for Germany”.

Dorow, the CSU parliamentary group’s media policy spokesperson, told BR he meant the man had freed Germany politically from dependence on Russian gas. He said the remark was made during a heated discussion and, in retrospect, was “a little exaggerated and careless” in its wording.

An Alternative for Germany (AfD) member of parliament filed a complaint, alleging that Dorow had glorified criminal acts. Dorow said he was taking the investigation calmly and described the matter as an “AfD farce”.