Court releases 2 suspects in Arnhem city center fire that destroyed 10 buildings

Two of the three suspects arrested in connection with the large fire in Arnhem’s city center sparked during the early morning hours March 6 have been released. Ten buildings were destroyed in the massive fire, which took nearly two full days to extinguish. The Gelderland District Court ruled on Tuesday that they may remain free on bond while awaiting their criminal trial, due to take place at the Arnhem courthouse at the end of March.

The court said those two suspects, Mark V. and Ricky N., did not seem to be active participants in the crime. Rather, the state of the investigation suggests 58-year-old Koert H. proposed setting a cardboard-filled container on fire, the court said. Previous reports also indicated H. has had extensive contact with police and authorities for causing disturbances in the area.

The three district court judges remanded H. to pre-trial detention during the Tuesday hearing. They also released V., a 31-year-old from Arnhem, and N., a 42-year-old with no fixed address. The central question in the case is whether all three suspects played a significant role.

“Just being there is not enough,” the judge running the hearing said. Video footage shows H. discussing setting a container on fire, an act he has admitted to carrying out. The three men then stayed near the container for a while, which the Public Prosecution Service identifies as the point where the fire began.

Following the last hearing in August, the court awaited findings from the Netherlands Forensic Institute (NFI) regarding what the suspects had specifically said. That investigation is now complete, and the court concluded that there is no evidence of an “active contribution” from neither V. nor N.

At the hearing, the defense lawyers submitted requests for additional investigation. V’s attorney, for instance, requested that the NFI explore alternative scenarios, such as the fire being caused by a cigarette thrown from a neighbor’s window.

The lawyer for N. asked for independent research into whether the suspects could have predicted that a container fire might escalate so severely. The court denied both requests, stating that the issue of whether the men could foresee the consequences of the fire on Varkensstraat is a matter of law. “It is for the court to decide.”

A further preparatory hearing in H.'s case will take place on January 13. The main trial with all three defendants is set for March 31 and April 1, 2026. The court added an extra day to ensure that all victims have the opportunity to participate.