German police launch probe after Bavarian deputy premier Hubert Aiwanger was found dead in his Berlin hotel room

Aiwanger, 55, Bavaria's deputy premier, economy minister and leader of the populist Free Voters party, was found in a third-floor room at the Neuer Fritz Hotel on Friedrichstrasse in Berlin-Mitte on Wednesday evening after cancelling a scheduled party office opening because he felt unwell. No external injuries were visible on his body, and Berlin's public prosecutor said there is no initial suspicion of a crime but nothing can be ruled out. Bavarian premier Markus Soeder called the death an "absolute tragedy", saying his thoughts were with Aiwanger's family and two children.

Police and prosecutors say the probe aims to establish the cause of death and rule out third-party involvement.

Aiwanger had led the Free Voters into the Bavarian state government for the first time in 2018, forming a coalition with Soeder's CSU that had held ever since.

In 2023 he survived national controversy after Nazi pamphlets were found in his schoolbag from his teenage years; he apologised but refused to resign.