MAGDEBURG, Germany — A Saudi doctor went on trial in Germany Monday accused of driving an SUV through a Christmas market, killing six people and wounding more than 300 in a rampage that shocked the nation.

 

Taleb Jawad Al Abdulmohsen, a 51-year-old psychiatrist, was arrested next to the battered rental vehicle after the attack on December 20, 2024 in the eastern city of Magdeburg.

 

Prosecutor Matthias Boettcher told the court that the accused wanted "to kill a large number of people" by driving the two-tonne vehicle "deliberately into a mass of pedestrians".

 

A nine-year-old boy and five women aged between 45 and 75 were killed.

 

Abdulmohsen -- a critic of Islam and an adherent of far-right views and radical conspiracy theories -- was motivated by anger over "supposed insults and frustration", Boettcher said.

 

As the trial started, Abdulmohsen, with a long, greying beard, smiled as he was seated in a bullet-proof cubicle then followed the rest of the proceedings without visible emotion.

 

He faces six counts of murder and 338 counts of attempted murder in a trial expected to last until at least March.

 

To accommodate the hundreds of victims and witnesses, the trial is being held in a large temporary hall.

 

Abdulmohsen faces life in prison if convicted.

 

On Monday afternoon he addressed the court himself for around an hour and a half, admitting, "I am the one who drove the car" but did not show any remorse.

 

The rest of his speech consisted of rambling diatribes against politicians, police and the media, as well as seemingly unrelated sections about religion, violence against women in Saudi Arabia and other topics.

 

Occasionally he stopped to cry and blow his nose.

 

At one point the presiding judge intervened to remind him to stay on the topic of the charges he faces.

 

Abdulmohsen is due to continue addressing the court on Tuesday.

 

Multiple warnings

 

Abdulmohsen arrived in Germany in 2006 and was granted refugee status 10 years later.

 

Active as a migrant rights campaigner, he was also a prolific social media user, writing rambling posts critical of Islam and repeating far-right conspiracy theories.

 

He had been working as a psychiatrist since 2020 despite concerns over his competence that led some colleagues to nickname him "Dr Google".

 

The Spiegel news magazine has reported that Saudi authorities tried to warn German intelligence about a social media post in August 2024 in which Abdulmohsen mused about attacking a German embassy or "randomly killing Germans".

 

However, Abdulmohsen's often bizarre ideology appears to have contributed to him falling through the cracks of anti-terror surveillance.

 

The spark for the attack seems to have been a court ruling against Abdulmohsen in a civil lawsuit against other refugee activists.

 

The trial will also examine flaws in the security measures at the market. The SUV rampage there followed a deadly truck attack on a Berlin Christmas market in 2016.

 

Cancellations

 

This year, some cities have cancelled the beloved winter tradition because of the cost of anti-terrorism measures.

 

Magdeburg's own Christmas market will open from November 20 but will be closed on the anniversary of the attack.

 

Magdeburg resident Birgit Lange, 57, told AFP that the attack had made her "more alert".

 

She said she would still be going to the Christmas market this year because "if we all hid away it wouldn't help anyone".

 

Kerstin Schulenburg, 54, is still brought to tears remembering how she narrowly escaped the attack while visiting the market with her four-year-old grandson.

 

"I can't process what happened," she said, adding that the event had left her with a fear of crowds and recurring panic attacks.

 

Nevertheless she said she wants to attend every day of the trial and hopes the verdict will "help me to feel better".

 

The attack was one of a string committed by foreign nationals that inflamed Germany's debate on immigration in the run-up to a general election in February.

 

That election saw the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) place second with a record 20 per cent of the vote.

 

The party is now riding high in opinion polls in Saxony-Anhalt state, of which Magdeburg is the capital, and observers say they have a real chance of taking control of a state for the first time in elections next year.

 

As the trial began, Abdulmohsen held up a laptop with the words "Sept 2026" displayed on its screen, the date of the election.