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Koblenz Higher Regional Court: Defendant Peter St. with his lawyers Wolfgang Stahl (left) and Welf Kienle

Photo: Thomas Frey / dpa

Peter St. has been in custody since last June, and this Friday he can now go home to Saarlouis: The State Security Senate at the Koblenz Higher Regional Court has revoked the arrest warrant against the 54-year-old.

Peter St. is suspected of having played a decisive role in the arson attack on an asylum seekers' home in Saarlouis in 1991 more than 32 years ago: he is said to have motivated the already convicted arsonist to commit the crime the evening before with a statement.

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Peter St. is therefore charged with aiding and abetting the murder of 27-year-old Samuel Yeboah, who died in the attack;

and for aiding and abetting attempted murder in another 20 cases.

The roommates of the killed Ghanaian were able to save themselves, some of them by jumping out of the window.

Peter St., known as “Oberskin” in the right-wing scene in the 1990s, denies the allegations.

According to the Federal Prosecutor General, to this day he represents an ideology shaped by National Socialist and racist beliefs.

On the second day of the trial, his defense attorney Wolfgang Stahl requested that Peter St. be released from custody immediately.

“Premature” timing

The main witness had previously testified against Peter St.

According to his statements, Stahl no longer saw any reason to strongly suspect a crime.

The judges obviously see it the same way and lifted the arrest warrant during the main hearing.

Peter St. can get his personal belongings out of prison this Friday and come to court as a free man on the remaining days of the trial.

The 4th Criminal Division of the Koblenz Higher Regional Court gave “precise and clear” reasons why the arrest warrant against his client had to be revoked, said Stahl.

»One would hope that detention decisions would always be examined in such a legally and factually clean manner.

My client is grateful that his charges are being heard by a fair court that operates according to the rule of law.

The co-plaintiffs, who represent survivors of the attack in this case, consider the time for the arrest warrant to be lifted to be “premature.”

“It takes numerous pieces of evidence into account insufficiently,” says lawyer Alexander Hoffmann.

This included the interviews with the police officers who questioned the main witness.

On the night of September 18th to 19th, 1991, Peter St. is said to have met the now convicted Peter Werner S. and another friend in the Bayerischer Hof, a tavern in Saarlouis.

They were also neo-Nazis like him at the time, and the topic of that evening was said to have been racially motivated attacks on accommodations for foreigners.

Peter St. is said to have said at the time: "Something like that would have to burn or happen here." According to the prosecution, this sentence is said to have influenced Peter Werner S. and encouraged him to spill gasoline in the stairwell of the asylum seekers' home that same night and set it on fire .

The trial will continue next week.