Prominent German Politician Found Dead in Berlin Hotel

German police announced on Wednesday that prominent politician Hubert Aiwanger was found dead in a Berlin hotel, stating that an investigation had been opened to clarify the circumstances of the death.

The cause of death for Aiwanger (55 years old), who served as Deputy Minister-President of the state of "Bavaria" in southern Germany, remained unclear.

Berlin police said in a statement: "He was found dead inside a room in a hotel" in the Mitte district of the German capital.

They added that they and the public prosecutor's office had launched an investigation "to determine the exact cause of death and the surrounding circumstances, and to rule out any possibility of third-party involvement."

Aiwanger, leader of the populist "Free Voters" party and Bavaria's Economy Minister, was in Berlin to attend the opening of a new office for his party, but missed the event due to feeling unwell, according to Bild newspaper.

Bavaria's Minister-President Markus Söder described his death as a "real tragedy," saying: "We are in a state of great shock. Our thoughts are with his family and children."

The "Free Voters" party was a junior partner in the governing coalition in Bavaria led by the "Christian Social Union."

Aiwanger had headed the party's branch in Bavaria since 2006 and led it into the state government for the first time in 2018.

However, he sparked widespread controversy across Germany in 2023 after it was revealed that Nazi-themed publications were found in his school bag when he was a teenager in the late 1980s. He later apologized for the incident but refused to resign.