The regional court of Magdeburg has found a 51-year-old psychiatrist from Saudi Arabia guilty of murder for driving a rental car into a crowd at the eastern city’s Christmas market in 2024.
The judge sentenced Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen to life in prison and said the German equivalent of the US first-degree murder charge – known in German as the special gravity of the crime – had been established. This reduces the chances of early parole.
The decision can still be appealed.
In addition to six counts of murder, al-Abdulmohsen was convicted of several counts of attempted murder and grievous bodily harm.
What happened in the attack?
Five women and a 9-year-old boy were killed in the attack on December 20, 2024, while more than 300 people were injured.
Al-Abdulmohsen was arrested while driving a rented BMW car to the scene of the attack shortly after the attack.
The attack was one of several targeting Christmas markets in Germany or Europe in recent years, and led to further tightening of security measures.
The man was able to break the existing security cordon and reach the market with his vehicle.
The attack was one of several that took place as Germany approached its 2025 federal elections, which have pushed migration-related issues to the forefront of the campaign.
What do we know about motive?
The attacker was granted asylum in Germany in 2006 and was a staunch critic of the Saudi government’s political and religious persecution.
He clashed with German officials on several occasions. Highly critical of Islam, she had expressed support for the far right online and portrayed herself as an activist for Saudi women’s rights.
Prosecutors said they believed al-Abdulmohsen acted out of dissatisfaction with multiple defeats in civil and criminal trials. He said he believed he acted alone.
“The defendant was and is only concerned about himself,” prosecutors alleged.
The defendant’s own testimony in court was often not particularly cogent. For example, he admitted to driving a car through a Christmas market, but also denied intentionally running over people – a position prosecutors said was absurd.
A psychiatric specialist diagnosed him with narcissistic personality disorder, but found that he was still fully criminally responsible and remained dangerous.
Edited by: Darko Janjevic
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