As of: February 22, 2024, 3:39 p.m
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Burnt books lie in the burnt out book box near the “Gleis 17” memorial.
© Fabian Sommer/dpa
He destroyed election posters, left pamphlets behind and set fire to a book box on the subject of National Socialism.
Now the public prosecutor's office failed with an application to have the man committed to a psychiatric hospital.
Berlin - The 63-year-old man who set fire to a book box on the subject of National Socialism in Berlin is free again after a four-week trial.
On Thursday, the Berlin regional court rejected a request from the public prosecutor's office to place the accused in a psychiatric hospital.
The man, who acted under a delusion and was not culpable, committed a number of minor crimes, but no serious crimes.
The judges did not consider the requirements for placement in the penal system to be met.
The 63-year-old had confessed to the arson attack on a book box near the Holocaust memorial on Track 17 in Berlin-Grunewald as well as other allegations in court.
The early retiree said he wanted to burn the books.
Two further attacks were carried out with little lamp oil and were “symbolic”.
The court legally classified these acts as damage to property.
The trial involved a total of 13 acts between January and August 2023.
The 63-year-old is also said to have destroyed or defaced election posters from various parties several times.
According to the public prosecutor's office, numerous cases of statements with inciting or homophobic content were known.
In the proceedings for incitement to hatred, attempted serious arson and damage to property, the public prosecutor's office sought to have the accused placed in a psychiatric hospital.
The judges were now convinced that the man was not at risk of committing any serious crimes.
Because he was not guilty, he could not be convicted.
“Make sure you accept help,” the presiding judge told the 63-year-old.
According to investigations, on August 12th, the trained welder set fire to the telephone booth at Grunewald train station, which had been converted into a book box.
Shortly beforehand, the man had lit a bottle filled with lamp oil and placed it on the monument to the homosexuals persecuted under National Socialism at the Tiergarten.
He left behind a homophobic pamphlet.
Because the bottle fell down, the flame went out.
Two days later there was an attack on a lesbian women's association in Neukölln.
The 63-year-old is said to have broken the window of the office on the ground floor and then thrown lit bottles filled with lamp oil into the room.
The fire went out.
The man is also said to have hung anti-Muslim notes on a mosque and other facilities.
The early retiree was arrested in mid-August.
He had been in so-called custodial detention since November.
With the verdict, the judges followed the defense attorney's request, but they rejected compensation for the man.
The decision is not yet final.
dpa