The suspect in the attack in Germany faces 5 charges of murder

2024-12-22 14:25:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

German authorities have charged the suspect in the deadly Christmas market attack in the city of Magdeburg with murder and attempted murder, which killed five people and injured 200 others, German police said on Sunday morning.

The suspect - identified as Taleb A under German privacy law - is charged with five counts of murder, several counts of attempted murder and several counts of causing grievous bodily harm, police said.

He appeared before a judge on Saturday evening, who ordered that he be remanded in custody pending trial. According to authorities, the suspect used the free emergency lanes to drive the car at high speed through the Christmas market on Friday, running over people who had gathered to celebrate.

Four women aged 45, 52, 67 and 75, as well as a nine-year-old boy, were killed in the attack. The attack caused shock and pain not only in Germany, but throughout the world.

Investigators say the suspect acted alone, as there is no indication at this time that anyone else was involved, according to their findings.

Magdeburg is a city with about 237,000 inhabitants in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, about 150 kilometers west of Berlin.

The suspect, an activist critical of Islam

Taleb A is a 50-year-old doctor from Saudi Arabia, known as an activist critical of Islam.

He has made outlandish accusations on social media and in interviews, claiming that German authorities are not doing enough to fight Islamism.

Once a defender of Saudi women fleeing their country, he later advised people not to seek asylum in Germany, writing on his website in English and Arabic: "My advice: don't seek asylum in Germany."

It is not yet clear what prompted him to carry out the attack but, despite the nature of the attack, there is no indication that he was motivated by Islam, a senior law enforcement official said.

The head of the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), Holger Munch, told German public broadcaster ZDF on Saturday that it was not possible to say definitively that the act was politically motivated, although he acknowledged that the suspect held anti-Islamic views and took part of far-right platforms. The chief public prosecutor in Magdeburg, Horst Walter Nopens, said the motive could be related to his dissatisfaction with the way refugees from Saudi Arabia are treated in Germany.

Munch added that after receiving a warning from Saudi Arabia about the person in November 2023, "a case was initiated here as well. The police in Saxony-Anhalt also conducted relevant investigations," he said.

"He had various contacts with the authorities, made insults and occasional threats, but was not known for acts of violence," Munch said of the suspect.

Saudi security sources said they had warned Germany about the suspected attacker and sought his extradition, but Germany had not responded.

They said the suspect is a Shia Muslim from the city of Al-Hofuf in eastern Saudi Arabia.

Shiites are a minority in the country, as they make up only about 10% of the population in a Sunni-majority nation./ Rel