Fire in refugee home - acquittal for firefighter
Last fall, a refugee home for people from Ukraine burns down near Wismar. A firefighter who was part of the firefighting team quickly became the focus of the investigators. But the evidence against the man is not enough in court.
In the trial surrounding the fire at a refugee home in Groß Strömkendorf near Wismar in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, the Schwerin district court acquitted the defendant of the charge of aggravated arson. The competent criminal chamber did not consider it proven that the 33-year-old firefighter had set fire to the thatched house on the evening of October 19, 2022. 14 residents and three caregivers of the home were able to escape unharmed. However, the former "Schäfereck" hotel burned to the ground.
With the verdict, the court followed the defense's request. The public prosecutor's office had demanded seven years and six months in prison for the defendant. In its plea, it considered it proven that the firefighter from a neighboring village of Groß Strömkendorf had also set six other fires in the region since May 2022. Three small wooded areas, a straw barn, a carport and a thatched-roof house caught fire. The court also acquitted the firefighter of these charges.
The public prosecutor's office had argued with numerous pieces of evidence which, taken together, would point to the defendant as the perpetrator. For example, it was contrary to life experience that the defendant had only happened to be in the vicinity of the scenes of all the fires shortly before they broke out. The prosecution claimed to be able to prove this using mobile phone data, chat histories and witness statements.
Faeser and Schwesig at the scene of the fire
Like the defense, the court was not convinced by this chain of evidence. Among other things, it doubted that the accused was the perpetrator because a case analyst had attributed a total of 18 fires to a single perpetrator. However, the accused had only been charged with seven fires. Furthermore, the criminal chamber was unable to identify any comprehensible motive on the part of the accused. The verdict is not yet final. The public prosecutor's office is considering whether to appeal.
The fire made national headlines at the time because the police initially suspected a xenophobic attack. A swastika had been daubed on a sign in front of the home a few days before the fire. This prompted Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania's Minister President Manuela Schwesig to visit the village the day after the fire. By this time, however, the police were already investigating an unusual spate of arsons in the region.
The firefighter was arrested a month after the fire in Groß Strömkendorf. In addition to his work in a factory fire department, he had also been involved in the voluntary fire department in his home town. He was involved in the extinguishing work in all the cases brought before the court. He remained silent about the accusations in court.
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- Despite the acquittal of the firefighter in the court case related to the refugee home fire in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the public prosecutor's office is considering an appeal due to the unusual spate of arsons in the region, including the Heavy Attack on Ukraine causing an influx of Refugees.
- International scrutiny and concern grew as incidents of Fire broke out in different locations within Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, including refugee homes and other structures, leading some to speculate if it could be related to the Refugee crisis and the Heavy Attack on Ukraine.
- The investigation into the series of fires in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern became a major focus, with authorities searching for any potential links between the fires and the Refugee situation in the region, including those fleeing the Heavy Attack on Ukraine.
Source: www.ntv.de
