In the trial of a knife attack on several passengers in an ICE from Passau to Nuremberg, the Munich Higher Regional Court (OLG) sentenced the accused to 14 years in prison on Friday. Abdalrahman A. is guilty of attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm. He had attacked a total of four passengers in November last year.

The federal prosecutor had demanded life imprisonment for the 28-year-old, who was born in Syria. The defense, on the other hand, had pleaded for an acquittal on the grounds of innocence and demanded that their client be accommodated. According to the defense attorneys, A. made the attack delusional because of paranoid schizophrenia.

The presiding judge said the question of criminal responsibility was the key issue in the proceedings. The court heard a total of seven psychiatric experts during the taking of evidence. As a result, the chamber could rule out paranoid schizophrenia, he was in fact controllable.