The 51-year-old doctor Taleb al Abdulmohsen from Saudi Arabia has been sentenced to life in prison for the attack on the Christmas market in Germany on December 20, 2024. The court found him guilty of six murders, 338 counts of attempted murder, and aggravated assault.

In addition to the life sentence, the court ruled that the man should remain detained even after serving his sentence, should he still be considered a danger to the public.

The attack occurred when Abdulmohsen drove a BMW X3 straight into the crowd at the Christmas market in Magdeburg. Six people lost their lives, including a nine-year-old boy and five women between the ages of 45 and 75. Over 300 people were injured.

During the trial, the Saudi-born doctor admitted to driving the car through the crowd, but denied that he deliberately tried to run people over.

The prosecution dismissed his explanation, saying it lacked credibility. According to the investigation, the car’s speed reached around 48 kilometers per hour during the attack.

According to the German federal prosecutor, the act was planned long in advance, but was not considered to have been ideologically motivated. Abdulmohsen himself stated that he acted out of anger that, in his view, German authorities did not take the rights of Saudi women seriously enough.

Chief Prosecutor Matthias Böttcher described the act as almost impossible to comprehend and said the suffering for the victims and their families is nearly impossible to put into words. The court also ruled that the crime was of an especially serious nature.

A forensic psychiatric expert testified during the trial that Abdulmohsen suffers from narcissistic personality disorder and has a very strong need for attention.

The convicted man originally comes from Saudi Arabia but had been granted asylum in Germany. He worked as a psychiatrist at a forensic psychiatric hospital in Bernburg in the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

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