Germany: Suspect arrested after fire in refugee accommodation
BY| Infomigrants
A firefighter has been arrested as a suspect in a presumed arson attack at a hotel hosting Ukrainian refugees in northeastern Germany. Investigators believe that the man was a serial arsonist and that the attack was not politically motivated.
A 32-year-old man was arrested on charges of arson on Wednesday (November 17), four weeks after a fire destroyed a hotel hosting Ukrainian refugees in Groß Strömkendorf, a village in northeastern Germany.
The local chief prosecutor, Claudia Lange, said that the investigation into the fire did not result in any evidence of relevance to state security — indicating that investigators currently believe that the suspect was likely not motivated by xenophobic beliefs.
After a fire destroyed the refugee hosting facility, many had speculated that the arson had been a xenophic hate crime because a svastika had been found drawn on a signpost in front of the building two days prior to the fire.
Investigators looking into 19 fires potentially connected to suspect
Prosecutors believe that the fire in Groß Strömkendorf was the last in “series of arson attacks”, according to Lange.
The suspect currently faces one charge of grave arson and three additional charges of arson. This is because investigators have connected him to three other fires in the region — fires set to a wooded area in June, at a carport in August, and to hay stacks in September. Investigations into another 15 fires in the region are currently ongoing.
No one was injured when a fire destroyed the hotel building in Groß Strömkendorf during the night between October 19 and 20. The 14 Ukrainian refugees living at the building, as well as three Red Cross staff members, were able to safely escape the building.
An assessment of fire experts pointed towards arson, in which an accelerant was used, as the cause of the fire, according to state prosecutors.
The suspect was reportedly also part of the crew that extinguished the fire.
Left politician: Xenophia should not be ruled out as motive too quickly
Several politicians commented on the arrest of the suspect.
Christian Pegel, the interior minister of the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and member of the center-left SPD party, thanked investigators and said that he was “relieved that nearly one month after the fire the suspected perpetrator has been found out and [put] in investigative custody.”
The speaker of the Left party in the state parliament, Michael Noetzel, encouraged the authorities to not rule out xenophia as a motivate behind crime too quickly. “It was well-known that there were Ukrainian refugees staying [in the building] beneath the thatched roof,” he said, adding that there had been several attacks against Ukrainians in Germany recently.
