A German man appeared in a United States court on Wednesday charged with setting dozens of fires across Los Angeles over the New Year's weekend.

The 24-year-old Harry Burkhart, who was born in the Russian province of Chechnya, was charged with 37 counts of arson.

He is alleged to have set more than 50 fires over a three-day period.

Anti-American rage

The fires caused an estimated $3 million (2.3 million euros) in damage, but no deaths or serious injuries were reported.

Prosecutor Sean Carney told the Los Angeles court that Burkhart launched the arson spree on the night of December 29, just hours after he had yelled foul-mouthed anti-American insults at an extradition court hearing for his mother, Dorothee.

Carney told the court that Burkhart had laid the fires "because he has a hatred for Americans."

German charges

Burkhart's mother, also a German citizen, is fighting extradition to Germany, where she faces fraud charges. The 53-year-old was arrested last week in Los Angeles on a provisional warrant issued by Germany authorities.

The judge ordered Burkhart to be kept in jail in lieu of $2.85 million (2.2 million euros) bail and to surrender his passport. He is to be heard again on January 24.

State prosecutors in Germany said the suspect was also wanted for alleged arson there. They said he was suspected of starting a fire that burned down his family's home in the central German city of Neukirchen on October 14 last year.

Author: Timothy Jones: (AFP, Reuters)
Editor: Andreas Illmer