Exactly 31 years after a racist arson attack in Saarlouis, people commemorated the then killed asylum seeker Samuel Yeboah. Around 60 people came on Monday evening to stop at the scene of the crime and to lay flowers at a memorial plaque erected by the city.
Antifa Saar had called for the rally together with other organizations. “It’s not a round anniversary, but one that will become even more explosive with the upcoming opening of the trial,” said a spokesman for Antifa Saar at the rally.
The trial against a 51-year-old for murder, among other things, is scheduled to begin at the Koblenz Higher Regional Court (OLG) on November 16. The man is accused of having set the fire on September 19, 1991 in a hostel for asylum seekers in Saarlouis out of racist sentiment. Yeboah, 27, from Ghana, West Africa, died in the fire.
“The legal review comes 30 years too late,” said the spokesman for Antifa Saar. There are hardly any usable DNA traces, evidence has disappeared. Therefore, “the litigation” will have a hard time. “The investigation must be assumed to be a cover-up.” Under the motto “No final stroke”, Antifa has long been demanding the disclosure of all files in the case and the establishment of a parliamentary committee of inquiry.
The Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office took over the investigation in April 2020 based on new findings after the investigations by the Saarland state judiciary had been discontinued. The Saar police apologized for “deficits in the police work at the time”. The German suspect, who has been in custody since April this year, denies the allegations.
According to the court, 21 people were staying in the dormitory at the time of the crime. Two other residents jumped out of a window and broke bones. According to the information, 18 other residents escaped unharmed.
In the past few years, there have repeatedly been public campaigns in Saarland to commemorate Samuel Yeboah.
Antifa Sarah Samuel Yeboah
