5 killed, 200 injured in Germany Christmas market attack – JURIST

The citizens of Magdeburg, the capital city of the German state Saxony-Anhalt, gathered on Saturday to mourn the victims of the attack on the Christmas market, which killed five and injured 200.

The attack happened on Friday when a man drove a vehicle into the crowd at the Magdeburg Christmas Market.

The police arrested the suspect at the scene. According to official media reports, the suspect is a 50-year-old man from Saudi Arabia, who recently worked as a doctor at Bernberg. The suspect appeared to have planned the attack alone.

Local news media, including Tagesschau and Der Spiegel, identified the suspect as Taleb A. According to these reports, Taleb A. describes himself as a former Muslim and Saudi dissident. He sought asylum in Germany in 2006 after fleeing Saudi Arabia. He has been vocal about migration and warned that Islam was a threat to Germany. In an interview with the BBC, he claimed to have set up a website to help Saudi activists escape Saudi Arabia and other gulf countries.

In a press conference on Saturday, Prosecutor Horst Walter Nopens said that the background of the crime could have been dissatisfaction with the way Saudi Arabian refugees are treated in Germany. However, the motive is not yet clear and is currently under investigation. It is unclear whether it was a terrorist attack.

On Saturday evening, the prosecutors of Magdeburg applied for arrest warrants against the suspect. The judge of the District Court ordered pre-trial detention for five counts of murder, multiple counts of attempted murder, and multiple counts of grievous bodily harm. The suspect is currently in custody.