Trial after death journey from Magdeburg begins

Magdeburg murderer in court

The mysterious movement raises questions

Six people were killed and hundreds injured in an attack on a Magdeburg Christmas market. The trial of the alleged perpetrator provides a new dimension.

This is already one of the largest trials in post-war German history: Eleven months after the attack on the Magdeburg Christmas market, the trial into the cause of the 51-year-old’s death began on Monday. A total of around 40 lawyers were involved in this process, representing 180 affected people and their survivors. Taleb al-Abdulmohsen sits in a glass box for security reasons.

At the start of the trial, the defendant showed a mysterious message on his laptop. First he held up the sign “September 2026” to the camera, soon after “#MagdeburgGate”. What he meant by that remains unclear.

On December 20 last year he passed the Magdeburg Christmas market in a 340 hp rental car. Six people died, the youngest victim was only nine years old.

More than 300 people were injured or traumatized in the attack. People from abroad, such as Spain or the UK, are also among those affected.

It often takes them months to return to everyday life after the crime – or they are still struggling. Kerstin Stern was hit by the killer’s car. As he explained to MDR before the trial began, he had not been able to walk for months. He has only been working again since early October.

However, he is also aggressive. Stern said: “He wants the victims to have to struggle with this for the rest of their lives. I’m not going to give him that leeway.”

Other people who were at the Christmas market at the time of the crime reported trauma and nightmares. Phillip Peplau was personally at the Christmas market with his colleagues. He told the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”: “I am still alive. But the attack changed my life, I think about it very often.”

He added: “When I take the train or bus, I always have to go through the Old Market. That’s not possible anymore.”

According to the Naumburg Prosecutor’s Office, his death journey only lasted less than a minute. Al-Abdulmohsen is said to have driven through the market at speeds of up to 48 kilometers per hour. He was charged with 338 counts of attempted murder. The perpetrator arrived at the Christmas market in a rented car between pedestrian traffic lights and concrete block barriers.

Al-Abdulmohsen was arrested after the crime. It was later determined that he was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs. The Federal Attorney General assumed he acted “out of personal frustration.”