Life sentence for man who drove into union protesters in Munich
The Munich court found special gravity of guilt for the 25‑year‑old and convicted him of two murders and 23 attempted murders.
The Higher Regional Court in Munich on August 6, 2026 sentenced the man accused of driving into a column of union protesters to life imprisonment and found a special gravity of guilt, the court said at the verdict.
Judge described the scene as “a single field of ruins”
The defendant, identified in court documents as Farhad N., was convicted of, among other counts, two murders and 23 attempted murders for the February 2025 attack during a ver.di demonstration in Munich. The court emphasised that the finding of special gravity will make conditional release after 15 years unlikely.
According to the court, the 25‑year‑old deliberately drove his vehicle into the protesters from behind. Presiding judge Michael Hene said the scene of the attack was "a single field of ruins" measuring twelve metres wide and twenty‑three metres long.
Judge Hene told the courtroom that the man, who comes from Afghanistan, intended to attack and kill people in Germany as a reaction to the situation in Islamic countries. "With that the defendant wanted to carry out an act that is pleasing to God and to prove himself a good Muslim before Allah, before himself and before his family," the judge said.
The sentence followed the demand of the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office. One of the federal prosecutors told the court in closing remarks: "The act itself was, it must be said plainly, directed at the destruction of human lives." According to the indictment and statements in court, the attacker explained his action as in line with the will of Allah and as a justified response to the conduct of the United States and other Western states in Gaza and in Afghanistan; prosecutors also cited personal motives such as anger, disappointment and resentment.
The defence had asked for a 15‑year prison term and placement in a psychiatric hospital, arguing that their client shows clear signs of hebephrenic schizophrenia, a subtype of schizophrenia characterised primarily by disorganised emotions and unpredictable behaviour.
Photo: press material from the event
