Two former members of the German parliament, Bundestag, from the opposition Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union alliance, will appear at the Munich High District Court on charges of bribery in the framework of the so-called "Azerbaijani case", the representative of the court announced.
The defendants in the "Azerbaijani case" are politicians Axel Fischer and Eduard Lintner. The first is accused of accepting bribes, the second of bribing officials in order to influence decisions in favor of Azerbaijan in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Both suspects deny guilt.
According to the investigation, Lintner, who has been working at PACE since 2010, received several million euros in 2016 through 19 fake companies. He transferred a part of that money to other deputies, who were supposed to influence the adoption of the decisions he needed, according to the investigators.
Fischer, who also worked at PACE since 2010, gave speeches favorable to Azerbaijan and sent secret documents. Instead, he received a bribe of 21,800 euros.
Eduard Lintner in his comment to the dpa agency called the allegation of bribery "complete nonsense". According to Lintner, after completing his parliamentary term, he worked as a lobbyist to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as a territory of Azerbaijan, which is "true from the point of view of international law." For this, Baku paid money to its companies, but, according to Lintner, it did not transfer it to other deputies.
Axel Fischer also told dpa that the accusations against him are "not true.
