Twelve people died and thousands more lost their homes – including global stars such as Paris Hilton, Mel Gibson and Jeff Bridges – in the worst wildfire to hit California last year. Now a man is on trial who, even before the fire was extinguished, spoke of retaliation against the rich. But how strong is the evidence against him? And why can he still escape a severe punishment? Our foreign journalist Guy Van Vlierden read all available investigative documents and reconstructed the case.

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