Berliner Tageblatt - German prosecutors demand life term over Christmas market attack

They demanded the harshest possible sentence for Saudi-born Taleb Jawad al-Abdulmohsen, telling the court that the attack which also wounded more than 300 "defies human comprehension".

It "was planned long in advance" and created ongoing suffering among victims and their families that is "simply indescribable," prosecutor Matthias Boettcher told the court.

During the months-long trial Abdulmohsen, a psychiatrist and anti-Islam activist, admitted to planning an attack but denied deliberately running people over.

His testimony in court was sometimes incoherent and riddled with bizarre conspiracy theories and references to fringe far-right ideas.

"I am the one who drove the car," Abdulmohsen told the court at the opening of the trial in November, acknowledging crashing his rented black BMW car into the crowded holiday market on December 20, 2024.

The rest of Abdulmohsen's opening statement in court largely consisted of incoherent and unrelated diatribes about politicians, violence against women in Saudi Arabia, religious topics and claims of a cover-up staged by the Magdeburg police.

The defendant has contended he did not realise that he had run over anyone -- a claim that another prosecutor, Marco Reinl, called utterly implausible.

Video footage clearly shows him driving the 340-horsepower, two-tonne SUV at high speed in a zigzagging pattern as he "ploughed through the crowd", Reinl said.

Abdulmohsen was charged with six counts of murder and 338 counts of attempted murder in the ramming attack.

- 'No remorse whatsoever' -

Closing arguments from the defence and from representatives of victims are expected in the coming days.

The date for the verdict has not yet been set.

According to Boettcher, Abdulmohsen's motive lay in a conflict with a Cologne-based refugee organisation against which he had lost a civil suit.

He sought "revenge" for the court defeat and a series of unsuccessful criminal complaints, and wanted to "continue to attract public and media attention", the prosecutor argued.

He cited a psychiatric expert who diagnosed the defendant with a narcissistic personality disorder. Abdulmohsen showed "no remorse, regret or introspection whatsoever", Boettchner told the court.

The rampage stunned Germany and provoked a heated nationwide debate about security around Christmas markets, a beloved seasonal German tradition.

It also fanned debate about immigration and security, at a time when Germany was in the midst of a national election campaign.

In 2016, an Islamic extremist deliberately crashed a truck into a crowded Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12 people that night and wounding dozens of others.

The current trial, held in Magdeburg, required the construction of a large temporary courtroom capable of holding the public and scores of victims.

G.Schulte--BTB