Two former deputies of Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) went on trial on Thursday in Munich's Higher Regional Court on charges of accepting bribes from Azerbaijan to influence decisions in Azerbaijan's favor in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).

The State Parliament of Baden-Württemberg, in a December 13 press release, writes that according to investigators, Edouard Lintner, who served in the Bundestag for thirty-three years and in the PACE until 2010, is said to have received "multiple millions of euros through 1nineteen foreign letterbox companies" through two companies up until 2016.

Axel Fischer, who was active as a European People's Party (EPP) parliamentary group leader in the PACE from 2010 to 2018, is said to have given positive speeches in the interests of Azerbaijan and passed on confidential documents at an early stage. In return, he is said to have received a bribe of 21,800 euros in 2016.

Axel Fischer and Eduard Lintner have always denied the allegations. 

This case has been discussed in Europe for many years and even served as the basis for a German feature film, which was shown on the ARD television channel in 2024.

Initially, the investigation was directed against CDU MP Karin Strenz, who, however, died in 2021. Two months before her death, the Bundestag had stripped her of her immunity due to allegations of lobbying Baku’s interests in the PACE and bribery. Strenz had voted in the PACE against the demand to release political prisoners in Azerbaijan.

During the investigation of Strenz’s case, the investigation turned to Eduard Lintner.

The investigation of this case dragged on due to the secretive behavior of the defendants and the complexity of the money transfer schemes. The prosecutor's office sent requests to Cyprus, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, Turkey, Belgium, Estonia, Latvia, Azerbaijan and other countries. Belgian investigators, on the instructions of the German prosecutor's office, inspected several offices in Strasbourg and found important evidence.

Alexandra Herzog, president of Transparency Germany, commenting on the case noted: “Today’s news shows once again that Germany needs to be better prepared for the threat of influence by authoritarian states through strategic corruption.”

After serving in the German parliament, Lintner worked as a lobbyist for Azerbaijan. During his tenure, he worked to recognize Nagorno-Karabakh as part of Azerbaijan. In his opinion, this “corresponds to the norms of international law.”

In 2017, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) published the Azerbaijani Laundromat investigation, according to which Azerbaijani authorities created a secret fund between 2012 and 2014 to bribe European politicians, purchase luxury goods and launder money. According to the investigation, about $ 2.8 billion was laundered through this fund.

That same year, the Council of Europe launched an investigation into Azerbaijan's bribery of PACE members. A year later, it concluded that a number of current and former PACE members may have received bribes in exchange for softening the body's criticism of human rights violations in Azerbaijan.

Top photo: Linter and Fischer during the court hearing (SWR.DE)