A man has gone on trial in Germany accused of carrying out an attack on a Christmas market in the eastern 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. If found guilty, he faces life imprisonment for murder.
Germany’s Christmas markets and festivals have come under attack before, mainly from extreme Islamists.
Last year’s attack happened at 19:02 (18:02 GMT) when the market was very crowded with Christmas revellers – and lasted just a minute and four seconds.
Taleb A. appeared in the 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.
The prosecution told the court that Taleb A. had driven through the market at speed hitting people and running them over.
They said his aim seemed to have been “to kill an indeterminate number of people” and that he had planned and prepared the crime in detail over several weeks without the help of accomplices.
They say the suspect “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”.
Taleb A. told the court that he had driven the car.
He has been in custody since the day of the crime.
A temporary courthouse has been erected in Magdeburg for his trial because of the large number of victims.
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”.
