Germany: Dessau remembers Oury Jalloh, asylum seeker burned in police cell

Dozens of protesters took to the streets of Dessau on Monday as part of an annual demonstration in memory of Oury Jalloh, a Sierra Leonean asylum seeker in Germany, who died as a consequence of fire in a Dessau police cell, in 2005. The death has been treated as a judicial scandal in Germany, with many speculating a police cover-up.
Protesters marched through the city, chanting slogans and holding up banners that declared Jalloh's death to be murder.
On January 7, 2005, a fire broke out at a police building in Dessau, claiming Jalloh's life. The case caused international outrage, as his feet and hands were reportedly bound to the mattress that burned. Multiple fire alarms and calls of distress were ignored. The state prosecutor charged two Dessau police officers with "manslaughter through negligence," yet they were both subsequently acquitted. In 2018, the Attorney General of Saxony-Anhalt ruled out a reopening of the case.