"A car as a weapon: That brought back memories of the attack by Anis Amri on the Christmas market at Berlin's Breitscheidplatz in 2016 and a similar attack by an Islamic extremist with a truck in the southern French city of Nice. In December 2024, a man drove a rented car into a crowd at a Christmas Market in the eastern city of Magdeburg (Saxony-Anhalt) shortly after 7 p.m., killing a 9-year-old boy and five women aged 45 to 75. More than 300 people were injured, some seriously."
"The attack lasted one minute and four seconds, according to prosecutors. The trial of Taleb A*., a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia, began Monday (10.10.2025) at the Magdeburg Regional Court. The indictment charges him with murder and 338 counts of attempted murder and of committing a "treacherous attack" for "base motives." Prosecutors said in their statement that they would seek the German legal equivalent of a first-degree murder conviction."
"The media have reported that the accused was dissatisfied and frustrated with the course and outcome of a civil dispute, as well as with the failure of several criminal complaints he had filed. The indictment presumes that Taleb A. acted alone. "According to the results of the investigation, he planned and prepared the crime in detail over several weeks without the help of accomplices or confidants," it reads. The defendant's profile differs from that of Breitscheidplatz attacker Amri and other presumed Islamic extremists who came to Germany as refugees in recent years. Taleb A. has lived here since 2006 and most recently worked as a doctor in a forensic psychiatry unit for convicted criminals in Bernburg, a town 40 kilometers (25 miles) south of Magdeburg."
On a December evening in 2024 a rented car was driven into a crowd at a Magdeburg Christmas market shortly after 7 p.m., killing a nine-year-old boy and five women aged 45 to 75 and injuring more than 300 people, some seriously. Prosecutors reported the attack lasted one minute and four seconds. A 50-year-old Saudi national, Taleb A., was indicted on charges of murder, 338 counts of attempted murder and a "treacherous attack" for "base motives," with prosecutors seeking the German equivalent of first-degree murder. Investigators allege he planned and prepared the crime alone over several weeks and worked as a doctor in a forensic psychiatry unit in Bernburg.
Read at www.dw.com
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