The man accused of killing six people by ramming a car into a crowd at a Christmas market in the eastern German city of Magdeburg last December told the court on Monday that he was the driver.
Shortly before the trial on six counts of murder and 338 counts of attempted murder broke for lunch, Taleb A. asked to speak to the court to answer the charges. He said he would like to speak for “hours, maybe days.” Earlier this year he surprised several victims by sending them letters from prison apologizing for his actions. Judge Dirk Sternberg said the defendant would be given an appropriate amount of time to address the court after it reconvened at 2 p.m. local time.
“I am the one that drove the car,” the suspect said on the first day of the high-security trial, one of the largest in Germany’s post-war history.
A temporary court building has been erected to accommodate hundreds involved in the proceedings, including witnesses, plaintiffs and members of the press; it will be dismantled after the trial. For his protection, the suspect will sit in a glass cage during hearings.
The car-ramming attack killed five women and one child and injured a further 338 people, prompting many German Christmas markets to bolster security with measures such as vehicle barriers.
Originally from Saudi Arabia, 51-year-old Taleb A. had lived in Germany since 2006 and worked as a doctor in Bernburg. He was detained shortly after the attack and has remained in custody. Some 180 victims and relatives are co-plaintiffs in the case. The Magdeburg Regional Court has scheduled about 50 trial days through March 12, 2026.
Prosecutors say Taleb A. was vocally critical of Islam and of Germany’s immigration policies, espoused various conspiracy theories, and expressed anger online that they say combined with “dissatisfaction and frustration” to drive him to carry out the attack. They say he aimed “to kill as many people as possible.” He faces life imprisonment.
Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko
