Man charged with murder over 1991 asylum shelter fire

German prosecutors have filed charges against a man accused of torching an asylum-seeker shelter in the early 1990s, they announced on Wednesday.

The German federal prosecutor's office had filed an indictment against the man, identified only as Peter S.*, that included murder, attempted murder, and arson.

The charges come more than three decades after a fire at a shelter in the German city of Saarlouis, amid a series of attacks in the early 1990s.

What is the suspect accused of?

Investigators say the accused individual entered the shelter in the town of Saarlouis, which is close to the French border, in the early hours of September 19, 1991.

They say he doused the stairwell there with gasoline before setting it alight.

A 27-year-old Ghanaian man, Samuel Yeboah, was engulfed by the flames of his injuries. Two other residents had to jump from a window to flee the blaze and suffered broken bones.

According to the statement, the accused had met "right-wing extremist comrades" in a pub in the eastern town of Hoyerswerda.

Last year, authorities in Saarlouis said there were "major indications" that a far-right crime had taken place.

Why is the man only being charged now?

Investigations by state law enforcement in Saarland ground to a halt after no perpetrator could be identified.

Germany's Public Prosecutor General took over the case because of new information. The man, who was known to police, was detained in early April and has been held in custody since then, the prosecutor's office said in a statement.

The president of Saarland state police spoke after the arrest and apologized "for the fact that obviously also deficiencies in the police work at the time led to the discontinuation of the Investigations have led."

In August 2020, he formed a working group to investigate the handling of the case at that time.

The incident came amid xenophobic riots in the town that culminated in the evacuation of Vietnamese and Mozambican guest workers.

Subsequently, there were also riots in the northern city of Rostock in 1992 and another fatal arson attack western German city of Solingen in 1993.

rc/aw (dpa, epd, AFP, Reuters)

Editor's note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and urges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.

While you're here: Every Tuesday, DW editors round up what is happening in German politics and society. You can sign up here for the weekly email newsletter Berlin Briefing.