BERLIN: A verdict is due Thursday for an Afghan man accused of a car-ramming attack in Munich last year which killed a two-year-old girl and her mother and left dozens injured.
The man, named only as Farhad N., has been on trial since January, accused of deliberately steering a car into a 1,400-strong trade union march. He was 24 at the time.
Prosecutors have demanded he be given a life sentence with added conditions to make early release much less likely.
The attack was one of several committed by foreign nationals in the run-up to last year's general election that inflamed debate on immigration and security.
As well as two counts of murder, Farhad N. initially faced 44 counts of attempted murder, but half of these were later replaced by counts of bodily harm, 19 of them serious.
The attack took place as the city prepared to host the Munich Security Conference, a major gathering of high-level figures from the worlds of politics and defense.
A Mini Cooper that was driven into the street rally hurled a 37-year-old woman and her young daughter through the air for 10 meters. They sustained severe head injuries, and they died several days later.
An eyewitness quoted by the prosecution described people "being flung left and right, like a bowling alley".
The vehicle came to a halt after 23 meters (75 feet) "because its front wheels lost contact with the ground due to people lying in front of and underneath the car", according to the charge sheet.
Online radicalization
Prosecutors say Farhad N. acted out of a "religious motivation" and had uttered the words "Allahu Akbar", meaning "God is the greatest", after the car rampage.
However, he is not believed to have been part of any organized jihadist movement such as the so-called Islamic State (IS) group.
His defense team has asked for him to be sent to a psychiatric facility despite court-appointed experts determining that his mental health problems did not reduce his degree of responsibility.
Farhad N. arrived in Germany unaccompanied in 2016, when he was 15.
His asylum request was rejected, but he was able to stay in the country and find work.
Police said Farhad N. worked in security and was heavily engaged in fitness training and bodybuilding.
He is thought to have been radicalized in the months leading up to the attack by consuming content online from radical Afghan preachers.
The attack came just days before the February 2025 general election, which saw the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) achieve its best-ever result of over 20%.
The centre-right CDU/CSU came first, and its leader Friedrich Merz became chancellor, promising to take a tougher line on immigration to stave off the AfD's rise.
However, since then the CDU/CSU has slumped while the AfD has established a steady lead in opinion polls.
