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Extinguishing work on the Parliament building in Cape Town
Photo: Nardus Engelbrecht / AP
After the fire in the parliament building of South Africa in Cape Town, the damage is so great, according to the fire brigade, that no meeting can take place there for a long time.
The prosecution expanded its charges against the suspect on Tuesday.
The 49-year-old arrested during the fire in parliament is now also accused of terrorism.
She announced this after an appointment with the examining magistrate.
The prosecution also accuses him of illegally gaining entry and setting a fire.
Explosives are also said to have been found on him.
The suspect is now to be examined first for his mental health and will then appear again before the examining magistrate on February 11th.
According to his lawyer, the man denies all allegations and threatens a hunger strike.
The cause of the fire is still officially unclear
The three-part building complex of the parliament was acutely damaged in the fire.
The cause of the fire is still officially unclear.
The flames raged in the wood-paneled meeting room of Parliament, which is located in the youngest part of the building complex.
There the president of the country gives a speech to the nation every year.
The building, completed in 1884, is the oldest in the Cape Town Parliament complex.
The newer building complex, which is used by today's National Assembly, dates from the 1920s and 1980s.
The public prosecutor's office announced that investigations into the major fire would continue.
He did not rule out further charges against the suspect in this context.
Cape Town has been the seat of the South African parliament, which consists of the National Assembly and the Upper House - the Council of Provinces - since 1910, while the government is based in Pretoria.
In 1990 the then President Frederik de Klerk declared the end of the racist apartheid regime in the parliament in Cape Town.
as / dpa / AFP
