A German court has sentenced a 25-year-old Afghan man to life in prison for driving into a peaceful union demonstration in Munich in February 2025, killing a mother and her 2-year-old child, DPA reported, BTA reported.
The Munich Higher Regional Court, which announced the decision, said the crime had particularly aggravating circumstances, meaning it was unlikely that the perpetrator could be released from prison on probation after 15 years, which is common in Germany.
“The act, I must say this clearly, was intended to destroy human lives“, said one of the two representatives of the main prosecutor's office.
Many other people were injured in the attack. Many of them are still suffering severely, physically or psychologically, from the consequences of the attack, with some of the injured unable to work.
The court's decision coincided with the prosecutors' demands, while the defense only pleaded for a 15-year sentence and the defendant's placement in a psychiatric ward. Defense lawyers said their client showed clear signs of a subtype of schizophrenia, leading to unpredictable behavior.
But the court president said the man wanted to attack and kill people in Germany indiscriminately as a reaction to the situation in Islamic countries.