Berlin, Nov 5. (dpa/GNA) – Bavarian Deputy Premier, Hubert Aiwanger, was found dead in a hotel room in Berlin at the age of 55, prosecutors said late on Wednesday.
Aiwanger, who also served as economy minister in the southern state, was discovered in his room at the Hotel Neuer Fritz in the early evening, according to the Berlin public prosecutor’s office. The cause of death is not yet known.
“The exact circumstances in which he was found cannot yet be disclosed for investigative reasons,” a spokesman for the prosecutor’s office said. Police have opened an investigation to establish the circumstances and cause of death, and rule out third-party involvement.
An autopsy is expected to be ordered. Investigators were examining the hotel room and could also question witnesses, the spokesman said.
Aiwanger had been due to speak at the opening of a Berlin office of the Free Voters, the party he led at both state and national level.
He had cancelled his appearance on health grounds, and was later found unresponsive in his room.
Bavarian Premier Markus Söder said he was deeply shocked by the news. “The sudden death of Hubert Aiwanger is an absolute tragedy,” he wrote on X, expressing his condolences to Aiwanger’s family and children.
Aiwanger became leader of the Free Voters’ parliamentary group in Bavaria in 2008.
The party entered a coalition government with the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) in 2018, making him deputy premier and economy minister.
He leaves behind two children and his partner, Tanja Schweiger, a district administrator in Bavaria.
GNA