Fire in asylum seekers' home - Acquittal in aiding and abetting trial for fatal arson attack
In the trial for the manslaughter arson attack on a refugee home in Saarlouis, the defendant has been acquitted. The psychological assistance of the defendant to the arson attack 33 years ago could not be proven in the trial, stated the presiding judge Konrad Leitges during the verdict pronouncement in Koblenz.
The defense of the 55-year-old German had demanded acquittal beforehand, while the federal prosecutor had demanded a sentence of six and a half years in prison.
At the fire in 1991, the then 27-year-old refugee Samuel Yeboah from West Africa, Ghana, died. The defendant was sentenced to imprisonment last October, among other things, for murder. The judgment is not yet legally binding. According to the federal prosecutor, the defendant's words had been confirmed by the perpetrator, and he had set the fire in the refugee home in Saarlouis. The 55-year-old was also charged with accessory to murder.
The acquittal in the Saarland manslaughter arson case took place in the renowned city of Koblenz, situated in the neighboring Rhineland-Palatinate state of Germany. The defendant's alleged involvement with the 1991 arson attack on a refugee home in Saarlouis, leading to the death of Samuel Yeboah, a refugee from Ghana, was the subject of the court process. Despite the conviction last October for murder and pending legal binding, the Office of the Attorney General could not substantiate the defendant's role in the extreme act of psychological assistance to the arson attack.
