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Dead Berlin Pirate politician suspected of murder

September 20, 2016

Police have said that Pirate Party politician Gerwald Claus-Brunner may have killed a younger man prior to taking his own life. Authorities said the man had previously filed a stalking complaint against Claus-Brunner.

https://p.dw.com/p/1K5cD
Gerwald Claus-Brunner member of the Berlin Pirate Party
Image: picture alliance/dpa/S. Stache

One day after finding two dead bodies in Gerwald Claus-Brunner's apartment, police announced on Tuesday that the well-known Berlin's Pirate Party member possibly murdered another man before killing himself.

Berlin police discovered the two bodies on Monday after following up on a letter sent by 44-year-old Claus-Brunner to the Pirate Party office in Berlin stating that "he was no longer alive," said Pirate Party leader Bruno Kramm.

Authorities described the scene in the apartment as "a gruesome picture."

Autopsies conducted on Tuesday suggest that the second man died after suffering blunt force trauma to the upper body and died a few days prior. Police believe the 27-year-old victim was killed in his own apartment before being transferred to Claus-Brunner's apartment.

The 27-year-old man also previously reported Claus-Brunner for stalking, said Martin Steltner, a spokesman of the Berlin prosecutor's office.

Authorities remvoe a second body from the apartment of Pirate Party politician Gerwald Claus-Brunner in Berlin
Police say the 27-year-old victim was killed elsewhere before being transported to Claus-Brunner's Berlin apartmentImage: picture alliance/dpa/K. Gabbert

Claus-Brunner, who worked as a communications electrician and mechatronics engineer, reportedly died via electric shock, according to information from the German newspapers "B.Z." and "Bild."

Police did not provide further details and have not yet released the identity of the 27-year-old victim. Earlier reports stated that the two men were thought to have both committed suicide.

Controversial party member

In a statement on Tuesday, the Pirate Party's Berlin faction wrote that they were "deeply shocked" by the developments in the case surrounding Claus-Brunner's death. They also wrote that "we grieve with the family and friends of the victim."

On Monday, the party announced that Claus-Brunner suffered from "an incurable illness."

"Faxe, as we all called him, was always controversial, never simple and did not have it easy. Every one of us has a story to tell about him," the party said in their statement. As one of the party's Berlin delegates, Brunner stood out, typically sporting overalls and a head scarf.

In 2011, the Pirates entered Berlin's regional parliament on a platform focused on internet freedom and opposition to government regulation online. The bodies were uncovered shortly after the Pirates garnered only 1.7 percent of the vote in Berlin's city-state election, ejecting them from the state parliament.

rs/jil (AP, AFP, dpa)