BERLIN (Reuters) -A German court sentenced a man to life in prison for ploughing his car into a carnival parade in the western German town of Volkmarsen last year, injuring dozens, including 20 children, the court said on Thursday.
The local man, now 31 years old, was accused of having deliberately steered his car into a large group of people with the intention of killing on Shrove Monday (Rosenmontag), the high point of Germany’s carnival season.
Life imprisonment is the most severe sentence possible in Germany. The court in Kassel found the man’s guilt to be severe, which means his sentence will not be automatically reviewed for parole after 15 years.
“The court today undoubtedly concluded the defendant’s intent to kill,” state prosecutor Tobias Wipplinger told journalists.
Wipplinger said the defendant remained silent during the entire trial and did not give a confession that could have mitigated the penalty.
“The victims did not receive any answers in the process to the question of why… why the accused committed this act,” Wipplinger added.
Hartmut Linnekugel, the mayor of the town which is home to some 6,800 people, said it was important that the ruling came before Christmas so it could sink in.
“Some peace will be made,” Linnekugel said, but he added “this event will always be present in the minds of the people”.
The defendant’s lawyer declined to comment on his client’s motives.
“I have a duty of confidentiality. And it is every defendant’s right to remain silent. That is his decision, and the court has to accept it,” the lawyer, Bernd Pflaging, said.
Shrove Monday is an institution in Catholic areas of Germany, especially in the Rhineland where tens of thousands of people dress up, drink alcohol and line the streets to watch decorated floats that often mock public figures.
Security at public events in Germany has been tightened since a Tunisian man with Islamist militant ties ploughed a truck into a Christmas market in Berlin in 2016, killing 12 people. He was later shot dead by Italian police after fleeing.
(Reporting by Maria Sheahan, Hakan Erdem and Annkathrin WeisWriting by Riham AlkousaaEditing by Thomas Escritt and Philippa Fletcher)
