A far-right German militant suspected of being the author of a fire against a shelter for refugees which had killed one person more than 30 years ago was arrested on Monday April 4 in the west of Germany, announced the federal prosecutor's office.

The facts date back to September 19, 1991, a year after German reunification: fire broke out in a home for asylum seekers located in Sarrelouis, a town of 35,000 inhabitants located near the French border.

According to a statement from the prosecution, the suspect identified as Peter S. is "strongly suspected of murder, attempted murder of 20 people and arson causing death".

The prosecutors accuse him of having, by means of a can of gasoline, set fire to the home which then housed 21 people and of having acted because of his "extreme right and racist convictions".

Born in 1971 and originally from Saarlouis, Peter S. was a well-known figure in the Saarland neo-Nazi scene, says the weekly Spiegel.

A “leadership role” within the extremist milieu

The fire had spread from the stairwell to the entire building.

While 18 people managed to get to safety, two other people suffered broken bones jumping out of the window and a Ghanaian national, Samuel Yeboah, died of his injuries in the fire.

Peter S. had been suspected of being involved in the arson from the outset, but investigations had been dropped for decades due to insufficient evidence.

At the time, investigators attributed him a "leadership role" within this extremist environment.

According to the latter, he would have participated, in 1996, in a far-right demonstration in which were present future members of the neo-Nazi group NSU, responsible for a dozen assassinations in the 2000s, mainly of foreigners. 

Investigations into the Saarlouis fire resumed in April 2020 following new clues.

The suspect's apartment was notably searched in early 2021, according to Spiegel.

In the early 1990s, shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, several attacks on homes for asylum seekers affected Germany, particularly in the former GDR.

This rise in xenophobia was illustrated in particular by the racist riots in Hoyerswerda, a city in Saxony, in September 1991, during which around 500 people attacked a refugee home with Molotov cocktails and projectiles, injuring dozens.

With AFP

The summary of the

France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

I subscribe

Take international news everywhere with you!

Download the France 24 app

google-play-badge_FR