It could have been a barbecue almost 15 years ago that led the investigators to Peter S.'s trail.

The former neo-Nazi is said to have told a woman at the time that he had set the fire in a home for asylum seekers in Saarlouis in 1991.

"They never caught me." Was S. trying to brag?

Perhaps he thought he was safe because the investigation, which was only investigating the charge of arson, was quickly dropped in the early 1990s.

But a man died in the attack in Saarlouis.

So it's about murder and there's no statute of limitations.

Timo Steppat

Correspondent for Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saarland based in Wiesbaden.

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Three years ago, the woman who S. is said to have confided in went to the police, who then investigated with a special commission, the federal prosecutor's office took over the procedure - and on Wednesday S. stood before the state protection senate of the Koblenz Higher Regional Court.

A slim man with a black jacket and striking black glasses.

S. denies both having committed the arson attack and the alleged admission to a third party.

The federal prosecutor's office, on the other hand, considers the woman's statement to be credible.

"Pogrom mood" of the 90s

The trial, which is scheduled to last until mid-February, will be a journey back in time to the right-wing extremist attacks of the 1990s.

The representative of the federal prosecutor, Malte Merz, spoke in the indictment of a "pogrom mood" that prevailed at the time.

Arson attacks like those on a home for asylum seekers in Hoyerswerda are said to have given S. the idea that “something like that has to burn here too”.

That's what S. is said to have said on the evening of September 18, 1991, when he met two men whom the prosecution described as "like-minded people".

S. was a constant in the right-wing extremist scene in Saarlouis, even a skinhead.

After staying in the Bayerischer Hof restaurant, the other two men went home, according to the indictment.

According to the indictment, Peter S., on the other hand, is said to have gotten a canister with ten liters of petrol and walked to the asylum seekers' home in the former Hotel "Weißes Rößl" in the Fraulautern district.

In the building, which was not locked, S. is said to have poured the petrol over the lower steps of the wooden staircase, which he then ignited.

A "deep contempt for human beings" speaks from the fact, according to the indictment.

The perpetrator "accepted that residents of the house could be killed".

The house caught fire.

Samuel Yeboah from Ghana, who had applied for political asylum in Germany, suffered second and third degree burns all over his body and died a few hours later.

Two residents suffered serious injuries when they jumped out of the building, and 18 others were able to save themselves via the fire escape.

The federal prosecutor's office spoke on Wednesday of the motives for the murder being the base motives, the insidiousness and the means dangerous to the public.

S. caused the death of one person and tried to murder 20 others.

Defense sees "inadmissible conviction criminal law"

In a statement following the indictment, S.'s defense attorney, Guido Britz, did not question the fact that his client used to be a member of the extreme right-wing scene.

It is important for him to emphasize that his client broke away from the right-wing extremist scene a long time ago.

It is now a "working husband and loving family man," says Britz.

The lawyer sharply criticized the prosecution.

The crime should match the perpetrator due to the defendant's previous political orientation, said Britz, referring in particular to the term "pogrom mood", in the context of which the federal prosecutor sees the crime.

The limits set by the law are being exceeded.

It is about "inadmissible conviction criminal law" on which the indictment is based.

The federal prosecutor's office later rejected the accusation.

The defendant's clearly xenophobic attitude plays a role in the base motives - this is a possible motive for murder and is therefore a legal concept.

S'

Defense attorney Guido Britz also criticized the fact that the men present in the Bayerischer Hof were not also in the dock.

The lawyers for the co-plaintiffs, who represent survivors of the attack, signaled that they wanted to work for a more detailed explanation of the events.

This is only beginning slowly and must also be carried out by politicians.

According to co-plaintiff Kristin Pietrzyk, there were "hundreds of cases" of arson attacks that were not solved in the 1990s.

In the case in Saarlouis, witnesses were deported, statements were not taken, and there was no interest in more in-depth investigations at the time, according to the other co-plaintiff, Alexander Hoffmann.

The survivors felt left alone for a long time.

The witnesses presented by the prosecution should be decisive for the procedure, in which, according to investigators, there are no DNA traces.

The defense wants to ask for an acquittal.

At the next day of the trial on November 28, Peter S. wants to comment on the allegations.