More than three decades after the deadly arson attack on an asylum seeker’s accommodation in Saarlouis, a suspect was arrested on Monday morning. Against Peter S. there is “urgent suspicion of murder, attempted murder to the detriment of 20 people and arson resulting in death”, said the Attorney General. There is an arrest warrant against him. A Ghanaian died in the attack in September 1991, two people were injured, and 18 other residents of the accommodation were able to get to safety from the flames.
According to a report by mirror Peter S., who has now been arrested, was a well-known figure in the right-wing extremist scene in Saarlouis in the 1990s. In this he is said to have taken a “leading role”, acted as a folder at demonstrations by right-wing extremists and in 1992 he was involved in a neo-Nazi attack on a student in Saarbrücken.
According to the Attorney General, S. met “right-wing extremist like-minded people” in the late evening of September 18, 1991 in a restaurant in Saarlouis. Among other things, they talked about the racially motivated attacks on foreigners’ accommodation in Hoyerswerda. Something like that would also be good in Saarlouis – that should have been the opinion there. S. then went to the hostel for asylum seekers to set it on fire. In the stairwell on the ground floor, he spilled gasoline and set it on fire, according to the Attorney General’s allegation.
Investigations had already been discontinued
The fire spread quickly, and in the attic hallway it caught a 27-year-old Ghanaian, who died soon after as a result of his injuries. Two other residents of the house jumped out of the window and broke several bones, according to the statement. “The other 18 residents managed to get to safety unharmed.”
The investigations in Saarland were stopped after some time because no suspect was identified. But because there were “serious indications of a right-wing extremist and racist background to the attack,” the investigation was resumed, and the federal prosecutor’s office had been conducting it for two years.