A mentally ill man may have started the major fire in South Africa's parliament.
On Tuesday, the 49-year-old defendant appeared again in a court in Cape Town.
According to a preliminary psychiatric report, he is said to suffer from paranoid schizophrenia, a disease that can be accompanied by delusions.
Prosecutors asked him to be sent to a mental hospital for 30 days for observation. The defendant was arrested shortly after the devastating fire. He is said to have lived in a Cape Town slum and as a homeless person. Several dozen demonstrators had gathered in front of the court demanding his release. The public prosecutor also charged him with a terrorist act on Tuesday.
According to the indictment, he deliberately “brought, placed, unloaded or set alight” explosives or an explosive device into the parliament building.
The prominent lawyer Dali Mpofu, who, among other things, represented the former President Jacob Zuma, acted as defense attorney.
He denied all allegations against his client and asked for his release on bail.
Otherwise he will go on a hunger strike.