The tabloid Bild reported the detention, saying it was unprecedented in the history of the Saxon legislature. According to Bild, the case apparently relates to Dornau’s business activities in Belarus. In the past, the lawmaker has faced criticism over allegations that political prisoners were forced to work on his farm in Belarus.
According to Bild, the case caused a stir because investigators escorted Dornau out of the plenary chamber and then questioned him directly in the state parliament building. Police also searched his parliamentary office.
The state parliament’s immunity committee recommended lifting the lawmaker’s immunity, and the chamber approved it shortly before the official session, despite opposition from AfD MPs.
Dornau grows onions in Belarus with Belarusian partners. He has come under considerable pressure because of his activities in a country ruled by authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko. One opposition outlet reported that political prisoners were being forced to work on the farm. According to Bild, prosecutors in Leipzig focused on that allegation.
According to the server, the dissidents were sorting onions for four pounds a day
Citing The Observer website, The Guardian reported in September 2024 the story of a political prisoner who was said to have been working on an onion plantation owned by Dornau in February 2024 along with about 30 other prisoners, many of whom were jailed for political reasons. According to the server, the dissidents sorted onions for four pounds (about 112 crowns) a day. "We had breakfast at seven in the morning and worked until the evening, with a few breaks," recalled the prisoner, who stressed, however, that he had no complaints about the work and preferred it to prison.
The Observer reported that it was unable to verify the prisoner’s testimony, but an independent prison monitoring group said it had received accounts since the start of 2024 from inmates working on Dornau’s onion farm. The dissident quoted in the report decided to flee Belarus after being released from prison.
Die Welt also wrote that Dornau’s company exported machinery to Belarus via Poland and Kazakhstan, even though EU sanctions prohibit such exports. If a court were to find Dornau guilty in the case, he could face up to five years in prison. Back in 2024, the leadership of the Saxon state parliament fined Dornau 20,862 euros for failing to properly declare income from his business activities in Belarus.
According to Bild, AfD’s federal leadership has been keeping its distance from Dornau. The newspaper noted that if the allegations are confirmed, the party wants to clearly distance itself from him.
Source: A European Perspective, ČTK
Originally published by ČTK, noj on 4 January 2026 12:40 GMT+1