A trial begins on Monday for a man accused of carrying out an attack on a Christmas market in the eastern German town of Magdeburg last December in which six people were killed and more than 300 others wounded.
The suspect is a doctor from Saudi Arabia, who has been named as Taleb A., in line with German privacy laws.
He is accused of driving a rented BMW car at speeds of up to 48km/h (29mph) through the market in the centre of Magdeburg on 20 December 2024.
Prosecutors say the attack happened at 19:02 local time when the market was very crowded with Christmas revellers – and lasted just a minute and four seconds.
Taleb A., who is now 51 years old, will appear in Magdeburg regional court charged with murdering six people – a nine-year-old boy and five women between the ages of 45 and 75.
He is also charged with attempted murder in relation to another 338 people.
He faces charges of causing grievous bodily harm to 309 people and causing dangerous interference to road traffic.
In a statement, prosecutors in Naumburg in Saxony-Anhalt said Taleb A. “was not under the influence of alcohol or similar substances during the rampage and apparently acted out of dissatisfaction and frustration over the course and outcome of a civil dispute and the failure of various criminal complaints”.
They said his aim seems to have been “to kill an indeterminate number of people”. They said he planned and prepared the crime in detail over several weeks without the help of accomplices.
Taleb A. has been in custody since the day of the crime. If he is found guilty, he faces life imprisonment for murder.
A temporary courthouse has been erected in Magdeburg for his trial, because of the large number of victims.
Germany’s Christmas markets and festivals have come under attack before, mainly from extreme Islamists.
At the time of the attack, officials said Taleb A., was an “untypical” attacker.
A refugee from Saudi Arabia, Taleb A. was described as critical of Islam and he also voiced support on social media for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, hailing the party for fighting the same enemy as him “to protect Germany”.
www.bbc.com
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