Taleb A. is accused of six counts of murder and 338 counts of attempted murder after driving a car into a Christmas market in Magdeburg in December.
Taleb A. is accused of six counts of murder and 338 counts of attempted murder after driving a car into a Christmas market in Magdeburg in December.
The scene of the attack at the Magdeburg Christmas Market
Six people were killed and over 300 others injured in the attack on December 20, 2024
German prosecutors have pressed murder charges against the man who drove a car into a Christmas Market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg in December.
Taleb A.* is accused of six counts of murder and 338 counts of attempted murder, among other charges. Prosecutors said in their statement they would seek the German legal equivalent of a first-degree murder conviction.
Five women aged 45 to 75 and one nine-year-old boy were killed in the attack on December 20, 2024, which left over 300 others injured.
The attack lasted one minute and four seconds, according to prosecutors.
Magdeburg Christmas market: What do we know about the suspect?
The suspect, a 50-year-old Saudi Arabian doctor who was arrested at the scene, was described by German authorities as an anti-Islam activist.
In a statement announcing the charges, prosecutors said the man “acted out of dissatisfaction and frustration at the progress and outcome of a civil lawsuit.”
They said he acted “with the intention of killing an unspecified but as large as possible number of people in the path of his vehicle.”
Prosecutors said preliminary investigations revealed that the attack was planned several weeks in advance, and without accomplices.
Before launching his car attack, Taleb A. had worked as a doctor in a forensic psychiatry unit for convicted criminals in Bernburg, a town 40 kilometers south of Magdeburg in the eastern German state of Saxony-Anhalt.
It was revealed in February that a colleague had raised concerns about A. and alerted his superiors.
Several German security organs were reportedly aware of A., who was known to be an opponent of extreme Islamism.