Trial begins | Right-wing arson attack in Berlin narrowly prevented

Attempted murder, attempted arson, and property damage—and racially motivated, too. The charges are quite serious. 35-year-old Dmitry P. is alleged to have spilled over ten liters of gasoline on the apartment door of his then 30-year-old neighbor and attempted to ignite it in the early afternoon of December 22, 2024. If the gasoline had ignited, it would have caused a powerful explosion, which, according to the indictment, would have resulted in the death of the victim and a friend present in the apartment.

P. will respond to the allegations at the start of his trial on Monday. He openly admits to having poured several liters of gasoline in front of his neighbor's door on the tenth floor of an apartment building on Zingster Straße in Neu-Hohenschönhausen. He claims that noise was coming from his neighbor's apartment. The previous tenant had already made "noise," and now the current tenant has also made noise. Why the alleged noise didn't stop when the tenant changed remains unclear.

Before committing the crime, P. put on protective clothing and a stab-proof vest. "Then I went upstairs with the canister and emptied it; then I went back downstairs and smoked two cigarettes." However, P. insists he didn't intend to light the gasoline. "I thought if they smelled it, they'd leave the apartment." Instead, the police arrived. They found a lighter in his jacket pocket and several canisters of gasoline in his apartment.

"Do you have a problem with foreigners?" the presiding judge wants to know. "Not really," says P. So why did he tell the police that he was a Nazi? "Taking a prank," says P. laconically. Nevertheless, before the crime, he scribbled a note with a nasty racist threat , garnished with a swastika and a crossed-out Star of David. But he didn't hang the note on the neighbor's door after all. "I thought that was too bad." - "But pouring gasoline isn't too bad?" asks the judge. P. just shrugs.

He said he meant his telling the police that he wanted to set the gasoline on fire ironically. P. offers a surprising explanation: "If I pour out the gasoline, I'll go to jail, earn money, and pay off my debts."

The first witness that day was a police officer. Dmitry P. was already known to his colleagues as aggressive, the officer said. When he arrived on Zingster Straße, he noticed a strong smell of gasoline. The Syrian tenant was already standing outside the door with an acquaintance; they were "disturbed." P.'s apartment also smelled of gasoline . He also said that he wanted to burn down his neighbors because he hated them. P. made his statement clear and did not give the police officer the impression that he meant it ironically.

According to his public defender, Dmitry P. has no criminal record, but he was previously found not guilty in a 2023 trial. At that time, placement in a psychiatric hospital was denied because he was deemed not dangerous. His lawyer says he is dealing with a mentally ill person. The trial will continue on Wednesday.