A German court on Friday sentenced a Saudi doctor to life imprisonment for the deadly attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market in December 2024. The man was found guilty of driving a rented BMW into the crowd, killing six people and injuring hundreds in an attack that deeply shocked Germany.
The accused, identified by German authorities as Taleb A. to protect his privacy, is a psychiatrist originally from Saudi Arabia. According to authorities, he was known for disseminating anti-Islamic rhetoric and expressing sympathies for the far right. He had worked at a rehabilitation clinic in Bernburg until his absence from his position at the end of October 2024.
The court recognized the exceptional gravity of the crime, a classification that generally precludes any possibility of parole after fifteen years of imprisonment. Prosecutors had established that the attack had been planned for several weeks and unfolded in one minute and four seconds.
In total, six people lost their lives: five women aged between 45 and 75, and a nine-year-old boy. The doctor was also found guilty of attempted murder of hundreds of other victims present at the Christmas market at the time of the attack.
This tragedy provoked strong emotions throughout the country and revived the debate on immigration a few months before the German general elections of February 2025. The Magdeburg attack remained one of the most significant events of this period, fueling strong political and security tensions.
The conviction brings to a close one of the most closely watched trials in Germany in recent years. The court ruled that the violence and premeditated nature of the attack justified the maximum sentence allowed under German law.
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