Merkel Ally Charged After Skiing Tragedy

Althaus, 50, is a popular conservative politician and one of Merkel's closest allies in eastern Germany.

Austrian prosecutors charged a German state premier and close ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel with manslaughter through negligence on Monday, after he had a ski crash with a 41-year-old woman who later died.

Dieter Althaus, the premier of the eastern state of Thuringia and the woman were skiing down different slopes in Austria's Styria region on New Year's Day. The crash occurred at an intersection on the slopes.

Althaus, who fractured his skull in the accident, told investigators he had no memory of the incident, the prosecutor's office in the Austrian city of Leoben said in a statement.

Prosecutors said Althaus said he would accept experts' findings on the case and assume responsibility for his actions.

Local media have quoted Althaus's lawyer as saying the politician, an experienced skier, might have strayed off his piste and gone slightly uphill shortly before the two crashed into each other.

Althaus, 50, is a popular conservative politician and one of Merkel's closest allies in eastern Germany.

Analysts have said the skiing crash could weigh on the vote in Thuringia on Aug. 30 but the state's minister for social affairs, Christine Lieberknecht, disagreed.

"The fact that charges are coming was not surprising," she told the Mitteldeutsche Zeitung daily. The charges were normal in such a case and would have no consequences on Althaus' candidature in the state election, she added.

The Thuringia election in August is due just a month before a federal election, in which Merkel hopes to be re-elected.

Althaus is being treated in a rehab hospital for his injuries and doctors say he should be able to return to work and take a role in the election.