German police and prosecutors are investigating the sudden death of Hubert Aiwanger, the deputy premier of Bavaria and leader of the Free Voters party, whose body was found in a Berlin hotel room on Wednesday evening, November 4, Reuters reported.

Source: Reuters

"The aim of the inquest is to establish the specific cause of death and the circumstances surrounding it, and to rule out any possible third-party culpability," Berlin police and prosecutors said in a statement. They gave no further details, and the cause of death has not been established.

Aiwanger, 55, was also Bavaria's economy minister. The Berlin Spectator reported that he was found at the Hotel Neuer Fritz near Friedrichstrasse station in the city's Mitte district, that the public prosecutor's office confirmed his death on Wednesday evening, and that the homicide unit of the Berlin State Criminal Police Office is part of the investigation, with an autopsy expected to be ordered.

55Age of Hubert Aiwanger
2018Year the Free Voters entered Bavaria's governing coalition with the CSU
2Offices he held in Bavaria: deputy premier and economy minister

In Berlin for a party office opening he never reached

Aiwanger had travelled to Berlin for the opening of a Free Voters party office in the capital but missed the occasion after he felt unwell, the Bild newspaper reported. German media reports summarised by the Augsburger Allgemeine said he had cancelled for health reasons and was later unreachable, after which the party's federal executive asked hotel staff to open his room, where he was found.

What is solid

  • Hubert Aiwanger, 55, Bavaria's deputy premier and economy minister and leader of the Free Voters, was found dead in a Berlin hotel room on Wednesday evening; the Berlin public prosecutor's office confirmed the death and opened an investigation (Reuters; Berlin Spectator).
  • Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder called the sudden death "a terrible tragedy" and said "we are all deeply shocked" in a statement on the state government website (Reuters).

What is only claimed

  • The cause of death has NOT been established. German media accounts described a natural cause as the current working assumption and reported no indications of outside involvement — but those reports are not an official determination, and prosecutors say the inquest is meant precisely to establish the cause and rule out third-party involvement.

"The sudden death of Hubert Aiwanger is a terrible tragedy. We are all deeply shocked," Bavarian Premier Markus Soeder said in a statement published on the state government website, adding that his thoughts were with Aiwanger's family and children.

The Free Voters of Bavaria have governed the state in coalition with the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) since 2018, making Aiwanger the second most senior figure in Germany's largest state by area and one of its most economically powerful. The Berlin Spectator reported that State Secretary Tobias Gotthardt of the Free Voters will take over the day-to-day business of Aiwanger's ministry at least temporarily.

What happens next: the Berlin inquest and the expected autopsy will determine the cause of death, after which the Free Voters must choose a new leader and Bavaria's coalition a new deputy premier and economy minister — a succession that will be watched closely in Berlin, where the party had opened its new capital office on the very day its leader died.