Hubert Aiwanger, Bavarias scandal-ridden deputy leader, found dead in Berlin hotel room

A German right-wing, scandal-ridden politician who was the second-in-command of the Bavarian government has been found dead in a Berlin hotel room — as investigators are unable to rule out foul play. Hubert Aiwanger, the leader of the populist Free Voters party, was in the German capital Wednesday ahead of a speech celebrating the opening of a new party office when he suddenly fell ill the night before the event, Bild reported.The dad of two, 55, opted to stay in his third-floor room at Berlin’s boutique Hotel Neuer-Fritz to recuperate before he was found dead later that night when his pals unsuccessfully tried to contact him.Prosecutors have launched an investigation into his death.“There is no initial suspicion of any crime.

Nothing can be ruled out at this point,” Michael Petzold, a spokesperson for Berlin’s public prosecutor’s office, told Bild.“For investigative reasons, the specific circumstances of the discovery cannot yet be disclosed.”Aiwanger, who had been a Bavarian lawmaker since 2008 and Deputy Minister-President of Bavaria since 2018, was found with no external injuries, however, sources told Bild. His cause of death remains unclear but those in Aiwanger’s senior coalition partner, the Christian Social Union, told Bild he had experienced some gastrointestinal problems.Aiwanger’s death comes just three years after he was embroiled in an antisemitism controversy that threatened to blow up the Free Voters campaign ahead of the 2023 Bavarian state elections.He came under fire after a report in Süddeutsche Zeitung – one of Bavaria’s largest newspapers – claimed he published a leaflet mocking the Holocaust while he was at school during the 1980s, DW reported.The pol admitted to having copies of the pamphlet in his backpack and described its contents as “disgusting and inhumane.”Helmut Aiwanger, Aiwanger’s older brother, appeared to take the hit as he claimed to have produced the sickening literature. Aiwanger has also bee...