German politician dies after an emergency flight stop in Shannon

A flight from Cuba to Germany had to make an emergency stop at Shannon Airport, Co. Clare, after a German politician on board lost consciousness.

Karin Strenz (53), who represented the northeastern state of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in the Bundestag for Angela Merkel’s CDU, was pronounced dead on Sunday after landing in a hospital.

On Sunday night it was not clear whether Ms. Strenz was on a personal or professional trip to Cuba or what caused her death, which required an autopsy to determine why she passed out. It is believed that she was with her husband on the plane that was flying to Frankfurt when a medical emergency was reported and the pilot was allowed to make an unscheduled stopover in Shannon at around 7:30 a.m.

Ms. Strenz was taken from the plane by paramedics to Limerick University Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. The flight she had been on continued its journey to Frankfurt.

In response to inquiries, Garda HQ at Phoenix Park in Dublin confirmed that a woman who landed in Shannon on a flight later died but made no comment on her identity.

“Gardaí and the emergency services were alerted to a medical emergency on board a flight that landed at Shannon, Co. Clare Airport at around 7.30pm,” said the landing on Sunday morning.

“A woman (50) was taken from the plane to Limerick University Hospital. The woman was pronounced dead a short time later. Arrangements have been made for an autopsy. ”

Formal investigation

Ms. Strenz was part of a group of politicians in Ms. Merkel’s party under investigation for allegedly taking money from Azerbaijan in exchange for lobbying on behalf of the authoritarian, oil-rich former Soviet republic. The public prosecutor opened a formal investigation against her in January.

From 2002 she was active in the state parliament of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, in 2009 she moved to the Bundestag.

In 2019, she admitted that a company she runs, Line M-Trade, accepted € 15,000 in donations in 2014 and 2015 without saying where the money came from.

Around the same time, she was voting in the Council of Europe, the European human rights body, against a motion calling for the release of political prisoners in Azerbaijan. A 2018 Council of Europe report found evidence of corruption and banished Ms. Strenz from her corpse for life.

At the beginning of the year, the Bundestag imposed a fine of 20,000 euros on her for accepting the undeclared donations. She was facing a full investigation – one of three center-right politicians accused of lobbying for Azerbaijan – and could face a prison sentence of up to five years.