MAGDEBURG, Germany — Nearly 11 months after a car plowed into a crowded Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg, killing six people and injuring hundreds, the trial of the alleged perpetrator — a Saudi national and former doctor — began Monday under tight security.
Prosecutors have charged 51-year-old Taleb al-Abdulmohsen with six counts of murder and 338 counts of attempted murder over the December 20, 2024, attack that left five women and a child dead.
“This is one of the largest trials in Germany’s post-war history,” officials said, with around 180 victims and bereaved relatives participating as co-plaintiffs. A temporary courtroom was built in Magdeburg to accommodate them.
Senior Public Prosecutor Matthias Böttcher told the court that al-Abdulmohsen “acted out of supposed personal frustration,” deliberately steering a rental car into pedestrians waiting at a crossing before accelerating into the busy market area. “He zig-zagged through the crowd to hit as many people as possible,” Böttcher said.
Investigators said the vehicle covered about 350 meters at speeds of up to 48 kilometers per hour before coming to a stop.
The defendant, who came to Germany in 2006 and once worked as a doctor treating mentally ill offenders, appeared calm as the proceedings began. From a secure glass enclosure, he held up a laptop displaying the words “#MagdeburgGate” and “Sept 2026,” though the meaning of the message was unclear.
Al-Abdulmohsen has been in custody since his arrest immediately after the attack.
After prosecutors spent nearly two hours reading the indictment, the defendant told the court he planned to make a personal statement that could take “hours, maybe even days.”
The Magdeburg Regional Court has scheduled nearly 50 trial days through March 12, 2026.
