BERLIN (AP) — A German doctor went on trial in Berlin Monday, accused of murdering 15 of his patients who were under palliative care.
The prosecutor’s office brought charges against the 40-year-old doctor “for 15 counts of murder with premeditated malice and other base motives” before a Berlin state court. The prosecutor’s office is seeking not only a conviction and a finding of “particularly serious” guilt, but also a lifetime ban on practicing medicine and subsequent preventive detention.
Murder charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. If a court establishes that the defendant bears particularly severe guilt, that means he wouldn’t be eligible for release after 15 years as is usually the case in Germany.
Parallel to the trial, the prosecutor’s office is investigating dozens of other suspected cases in separate proceedings.
The man, who has only been identified as Johannes M. in line with Germany privacy rules, is also accused of trying to cover up evidence of the murders by starting fires in the victims' homes. He has been in custody since Aug. 6.
The doctor was part of a nursing service’s end-of-life care team in the German capital and was initially suspected in the deaths of just four patients. That number has crept higher since last summer, and prosecutors are now accusing him of the deaths of 15 people between Sept. 22, 2021, and July 24 last year.
The victims’ ages ranged from 25 to 94. Most died in their own homes.
The doctor allegedly administered an anesthetic and a muscle relaxer to the patients without their knowledge or consent. The drug cocktail then allegedly paralyzed the respiratory muscles. Respiratory arrest and death followed within minutes, prosecutors said.
The doctor did not agree to an interview with a psychiatric expert ahead of the trial, German news agency dpa reported. The expert will therefore observe the defendant’s behavior in court and hear statements from witnesses in order to give an assessment of the man’s personality and culpability.
So far, it is unclear what the palliative care physician’s motive might have been, dpa reported. The victims named in the indictment were all seriously ill, but their deaths were not imminent.
The defendant will not make a statement to the court for the time being, his defense lawyer Christoph Stoll said, according to dpa.
The court has initially scheduled 35 trial dates for the proceedings until January 28, 2026. According to the court, 13 relatives of the deceased are represented as co-plaintiffs. There are several witnesses for each case, and around 150 people in total could be heard in court, dpa reported.
Among the cases now being heard in court is that of a 56-year-old woman who died in September.
On Sept. 5, the doctor allegedly administered an anesthetic and a muscle relaxant to the physically weakened woman in her home without any medical need. However, fearing discovery, he then made an emergency call and falsely stated that he had found the woman in a “condition requiring resuscitation,” according to the indictment. Rescue workers were able to resuscitate the woman and took her to hospital, dpa reported.
The indictment said that “in continuation of his plan of action and in the knowledge of the injured party’s living will”, according to which the woman did not want any life-prolonging measures, the doctor is said to have called one of her daughters and apologized for violating this will. With the consent of both daughters, artificial respiration was discontinued and the woman died on Sept. 8 in a Berlin hospital.
An investigation into further suspected deaths is continuing.
A specially established investigation team in the homicide department of the Berlin State Criminal Police Office and the Berlin public prosecutor’s office investigated a total of 395 cases. In 95 of these cases, initial suspicion was confirmed and preliminary proceedings were initiated. In five cases, the initial suspicion was not substantiated.
In 75 cases, investigations are still ongoing in separate proceedings. Five exhumations are still planned for this separate procedure, prosecutors said.
Among the cases still being investigated is the death of the doctor's mother-in-law, who was suffering from cancer, court spokesman Sebastian Büchner said. Local media reported that she died during a visit by the doctor.
In 2019, a German nurse who murdered 87 patients by deliberately bringing about cardiac arrests was given a life sentence.
Earlier this month, German investigators in the northern town of Itzehoe said they were examining the case of a doctor who has been suspected of killing several patients.
From left, defendant lawyers Klaudia Dawidowic, Ria Halbritter and Christoph Stoll, presiding judge Sylvia Busch, center, and public prosecutor Philipp Meyhöfer, second right, as a doctor has gone on trial over the alleged murder of 15 patients under palliative care, at Berlin Regional Court, Germany, Monday July 14, 2025. (Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa via AP)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.
Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.
Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”
Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”
Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”
He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”
Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.
In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.
Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.
In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)
In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)
