German prosecutors have requested that legal immunity is lifted in the case of a Left Party member of parliament who smuggled a migrant into the country.

Diether Dehm may then possibly be facing prison time if German prosecutors are permitted to charge him for people smuggling, reports Suddeutche Zeitung.

Breitbart London reported that Mr. Dehm smuggled a young African migrant from Italy, through Switzerland, into Germany in the trunk of his car. The left-wing politician had found the illegal migrant while he was visiting his holiday home in the north of Italy. The holiday home is situated near the border close to the town of Como which has been overrun with African migrants trying to cross into Switzerland.

German members of parliament are generally immune from various forms of prosecution under the German constitution. The law is intended to protect politicians, ensuring that they can vote according to their conscience without fear of threats of arrest for opposing a ruling government.

The immunity can, however, be lifted in criminal cases but the prosecutor must bring a request to the parliament.

People smuggling in Germany can carry a sentence of up to ten years in prison, but the majority of offenders in human trafficking offenses are fined or receive a suspended sentence.

It is expected that Mr. Dehm’s immunity from prosecution will be lifted, with the politician accepting as much telling German media: “I was at peace with myself and am even now.” Mr. Dehm said that the matter will be cleared up by his lawyer, a politician from the Christian Social Union (CSU), Peter Gauweiler.

Mr. Gauweiler is reportedly a close personal friend of Mr. Dehm, who the leftist politician has referred to as a “blood brother”. Mr. Gauweiler’s party, the CSU, has recently taken a hard-line stance against mass migration calling for a cap on migrant numbers and prioritising applications for asylum from Christian migrants.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose Christian Democratic Union (CDU) is the partner of the CSU in the Union Parties political alliance, has rejected the idea of prioritising Christians. However, the chancellor has said she would be open to suggestions on how to handle the migrant crisis following disastrous results in local elections in Berlin and Ms. Merkel’s home state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in September.