German politician dies in parachute jump

Juergen Moellemann, a prominent German opposition politician accused of campaigning on anti-Semitic themes in last year’s national election, died in a parachute jump, just as prosecutors stepped up a finance investigation against him.

Authorities said they were investigating a possible suicide after the former Cabinet minister and deputy chancellor – an experienced skydiver known for parachuting to campaign events – plunged to his death in a barley field near the western town of Marl.

Germans knew Moellemann, 57, as a combative maverick with pro-Arab leanings, but he was ostracised by his own centre-right Free Democratic Party in recent months for criticism of Jewish and Israeli leaders last summer. His remarks, on television and in a campaign leaflet, were widely condemned as breaking a political taboo.

Moellemann was under criminal investigation over suspicions that he illegally financed the leaflet.

Minutes before news of his death broke, prosecutors announced raids on homes, offices and banks linked to Moellemann in Germany, Spain, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein as part of their investigation into alleged tax evasion and fraud.

MPs in Berlin had cleared the way about an hour earlier by voting to lift the immunity from prosecution he had as a member of parliament.

Investigators said Moellemann was the last of 10 people who jumped from a small plane. His parachute opened normally, but on the way down it separated from him “for reasons that are entirely unclear,” prosecutor Wolfgang Reinicke told a news conference in the nearby town of Recklinghausen.

“We are of course investigating all possibilities,” Reinicke said. “The range of possibilities in such a case is very large. You can put them in three categories – an accident, a suicide or sabotage, for instance manipulation of the parachute by another person.”

Witness accounts fuelled speculation about a possible suicide.

“At some point between 1,500 and 1,000 meters (4,900ft and 3,300ft), he let go the main parachute and, for no reason that I could discern, didn’t pull the emergency parachute,” witness Thomas Vilter told ZDF television.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder expressed shock. “I knew Moellemann well and I liked him as a person – even though he didn’t always make it particularly easy,” he said.

Survivors include Moellemann’s second wife, Carola, and three children.