A man who killed six people at a Christmas market in Germany as he drove into the crowd has been sentenced to life in prison. A doctor from Saudi Arabia, who has been living in the country for several years, carried out the attack on December 20, 2024.
The man, named Taleb A in line with Germany privacy laws, was sentenced this morning, June 26. Five women and a nine-year-old boy died in the attack, with hundreds more left injured. The trial had started in November. The incident involving the psychiatrist, who drove through the market in a rented BMW X3, lasted a little over one minute.
Investigators said the car driven by the Saudi national, who arrived in Germany in 2006, reached a maximum speed of up 29mph during the harrowing incident.
When they filed the indictment, they also said he wasn’t under the influence of alcohol at the time of the fatal attack.
The man watched his trial from a bulletproof glass box inside a specially-erected courtroom in Magdeburg.
During the trial, the 51-year-old apologised to the family of the boy killed during the incident.
The man was described by authorities as an “untypical attacker”.
He described himself as an “ex-Muslim”, showed support for the far-right and previously claimed on social media that Germany was allowing the “Islamisation of Europe”.
In court, he spoke about the “left-right wing” divide, migration and refugee organisations.
The man, prosecutors said, appeared to have acted following dissatisfaction with a legal dispute and the failure of various criminal complaints.
He had no record of violence at the time of the attack. However, he had previously come to the attention of authorities for threatening behaviour.
