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A German court has given a former Bundestag deputy a one-year-and-two-month suspended sentence for accepting tens of thousands of euros in bribes from Azerbaijan in exchange for promoting Baku's interests at Europe’s top human rights body.
In a ruling announced Thursday, the Munich Higher Regional Court found that Axel Fischer entered into an “unlawful agreement” with Azerbaijani officials to advance their agenda within the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
In addition to the suspended sentence, the judge barred Fischer from holding public office for two years, ordered the confiscation of 20,000 euros ($23,480), and required him to pay 12,000 euros ($14,000) to a victim support fund.
Fischer served as a Christian Democratic Union (CDU) MP until 2021 and was a member of Germany’s delegation to PACE from 2010 to 2018. During his tenure, the court found, he shared confidential documents with Azerbaijani representatives, gave pro-Azerbaijani speeches, and repeatedly voted in Baku’s favor.
While the arrangement dated back to 2011, the court ruled that 79,000 euros ($92,700) in cash payments Fischer received through August 2014 could not be prosecuted because they predated the entry into force of a German political bribery law that criminalized lawmakers accepting benefits in exchange for exercising their mandate, including PACE members.
However, the judge found that the politician received additional cash payments totaling 24,500 euros ($28,770) after the law came into force.
Fischer denied the charges, maintaining he had never received money from Azerbaijan.
The court rejected his explanations as not credible.
Fischer’s lawyers are reportedly appealing the verdict. The outcome marks the first time a former German MP has been convicted for taking bribes while holding public office.
The ruling follows the conviction in July 2025 of former CDU deputy Eduard Lintner by the same Munich court on bribery charges. Throughout his trial, Lintner—who was no longer a serving MP at the time of his offenses—maintained that his conduct amounted to legitimate lobbying driven by “honorable motives.” He has also reportedly appealed his sentence.
Lintner was implicated in the so-called Azerbaijani Laundromat, a massive money-laundering scheme exposed in 2017 by OCCRP and its media partners. The investigation revealed how Azerbaijan’s ruling elite used a $2.9 billion slush fund to enrich themselves and pay European politicians to whitewash the country's image amid growing international criticism of its human rights record.
Lintner and Fischer were initially due to stand trial together. However, Fischer’s trial was later delayed due to illness.
Responding to Axel Fischer’s conviction, Transparency International Germany said that “while some European politicians were accepting bribes to promote Azerbaijan’s interests and silence dissent within the Council of Europe, human rights activists and political prisoners sat behind bars in Baku.”
Calling the verdict an “an important step forward for accountability in Germany and Europe,” the anti-corruption watchdog urged other countries linked to the Laundromat scandal to follow Berlin’s lead.
