Taleb al-Abdulmohsen ranted at witnesses on Thursday, causing great consternation amongst victims at his historic trial after days of confusing and outrageous outbursts.
Yesterday, victims and witnesses began speaking about their ordeal at the bloody Christmas market in Magdeburg. Al-Abdulmohsen, the Saudi national who worked as a doctor in Germany for years, is accused of driving his vehicle in a zig-zag pattern through the market to kill as many people as possible.
However, he is currently trying to claim that one of his victims could have died from coronavirus instead of his car ramming attack.
Forensic physician Dr. Gerald Brenecke, Halle University Hospital, started his testimony. One day after the attack, on Dec. 21, 2024, he conducted autopsies of five victims. The first victim he autopsied was 45-year-old Nadine L.
He said the corpse “had massive injuries in the upper body area and head.”
However, the doctor noted the woman’s heart was previously damaged and that “the woman died of highly acute heart failure,” while she was trying to escape the car.
The suspect, al-Abdulmohsen, jumped on this claim to indicate the victim may have died in connection with the coronavirus, saying that people have become more susceptible to cardiac arrest since the coronavirus pandemic.
One of the lawyers of the victims reacted with rage in the courtroom.
“I complain that the victims no longer need to listen to this nonsense. Today is the first time it’s about the victims, and they have to listen to the defendant’s crap,” said the lawyer.
al-Abdulmohsen being allowed to continue his line of questioning, this has been rejected by the judges in the case.
The presiding judge said, “Even if this seems or is unbearable for the co-plaintiffs, the chamber cannot shorten the defendant’s right to ask questions. That could provide grounds for an appeal.”
He further stated: “I want to avoid at all costs that we have to repeat these proceedings. We know that these proceedings place a high burden on co-plaintiffs and their relatives.”
People not only lost their lives on that fateful day, but many victims and witnesses were left to face painful trauma from the massacre.
Co-plaintiff Anne Kathrin H. was the first person physically injured by the Saudi who testified in the trial. In court, while fighting back tears, she said: “I wanted to go to the Christmas market with my partner and was a little impatient. We left shortly after 6 p.m.”
Right after the couple ate, Anne Kathrin H. said, “Then the car hit us. Everything was black. When I woke up again, I realized that I had fallen over. The bystanders took me to the rescue workers. There, I found my husband Matthias. He cried and said happily, ‘You’re alive. You’re alive…’”
Her husband was also injured.
Both victims were treated at a university hospital. Katrin H. was on sick leave until mid-February while her husband “still limps to this day.”
She said the attacker took away her family’s sense of security and happiness.
“I’m still receiving psychological treatment and also in a self-help group,” said Kathrin H.
Another witness, Mario T., along with his wife and acquaintances, provided first aid in the aftermath of the Christmas market slaughter:
“There was a small child opposite us who had to be resuscitated. We helped an injured man.” The images of the destroyed market “left their mark on the family,” according to Bild.
“My wife is still struggling with the psychological consequences today,” said Mario T.
He said his wife no longer goes into town and rarely leaves the house.
“She only goes to work and back home,” the man said.
The day also saw forensic specialists describing autopsies of the other victims in the case.
Eyewitness Eyad I. is a former Syrian doctor from Magdeburg, who worked at the Christmas market in 2024. He spoke with the help of a German interpreter.
“I had a booth at the entrance to the Christmas market. I was in my booth when I suddenly heard a noise. I didn’t know what it was.”
Then, Eyad saw a seriously injured boy: “The wound was open, I could see the boy’s bone. He grabbed me.”
He noted that “blood came out of his wounds. He screamed and didn’t let go of me.”
Eyad treated the wound, and paramedics took over from there.
Throughout the trial, the defendant has screamed, rioted, and raged.
According to his own statement, al-Abdulmohsen also claimed to have been on hunger strike since the start of the trial. However, Bild journalists note that “he appears to be in great shape and speaks animatedly with his defense lawyers as the chamber enters the court and opens the day of the trial seven minutes late.”
The day before, he was brought to the ground inside his glass case after physical rioting inside. Judicial officers brought him to the ground.
He has had his microphone constantly switched off as well, including for questioning the psychological health of witnesses. The former doctor was given his medical license despite clear evidence of fraud regarding his medical experience, along with a long history of threatening to kill Germans, which was all documented on social media. In fact, in what was a complete failure of German authorities, they were even warned by a Saudi intelligence agency of the threat the man posed.
The German taxpayer is on the hook for the massive trial, but that is a drop in the pond for what Germans are paying for mass migration every year, totaling at least €50 billion for integration, housing, and social benefits. That cost does not cover increased security and police costs due to criminality from Germany’s growing foreign population, either.
Even the price of Christmas market security is soaring across the country, another burden shouldered by taxpayers and small business owners.
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