German parliament lifts immunity of SPD lawmaker Ahmetovic, offices searched
Investigators searched the office and homes of a Social Democrat lawmaker from Hanover after the Bundestag lifted his immunity in a hospital site probe. His lawyer called the raid unlawful.
Archive image · Photo: Tomasz Lipinski / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Germany's Bundestag on Thursday lifted the parliamentary immunity of Social Democrat lawmaker Adis Ahmetovic. Prosecutors in Hanover then searched his parliamentary office and homes in Hanover and Berlin, according to the dpa news agency. The 33-year-old has been a member of parliament since 2021 and chairs the SPD in Hanover.
According to dpa, investigators suspect him of aiding anti-competitive collusion in tenders linked to the sale of a former hospital site in Lehrte, near Hanover. Former Berlin SPD lead candidate Steffen Krach and former Lower Saxony SPD parliamentary leader Stefan Politze are also under investigation in the same affair. Both deny wrongdoing.
Ahmetovic's lawyer, Holger Nitz, called the search unlawful and the allegation inaccurate, describing the measures as superfluous and wholly disproportionate given his client's willingness to cooperate. He said he would file a complaint against the search warrant. All those involved are presumed innocent.