A Berlin regional court sentenced palliative care doctor Johannes M. to life imprisonment on Wednesday for the murder of 15 patients between 2021 and 2024, with judges determining his guilt was of particular severity. The same day, a separate Berlin court handed oncologist Zhiting S. a five-year prison term for aiding a network of predominantly Chinese men who drugged and raped women across Germany, sharing videos on Telegram. Both verdicts carry concrete consequences: Johannes M. faces preventive detention after his prison term and a lifetime ban from practising medicine, while Zhiting S. was convicted of being an accessory to rape and of sexually abusing his fiancée in China.

According to the Berlin public prosecutor’s office, Johannes M. administered lethal cocktails of anaesthetics and muscle relaxants to 12 women and 3 men during home visits, without their knowledge or consent. Prosecutors argued the killings were not motivated by compassion but by a “lust for murder,” a characterisation the presiding judge echoed by describing him as a “serial killer” driven by a “drive for power over his victims.” The defence maintained the doctor had convinced himself he was relieving suffering, and requested that neither the particular severity of guilt nor preventive detention be imposed. Relatives of the victims, including the mother of a 25-year-old woman, told the court their loved ones had expressed no wish to die. Investigators are now examining 76 additional deaths linked to the physician, which, if proven, would make it one of the largest serial murder cases in German history.

In the parallel trial, the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office detailed how Zhiting S. advised a principal perpetrator on which sedatives to use to incapacitate victims, within a network that referred to women as “cars” and rape as “driving.” Three other members of the network have already received lengthy prison sentences. Viewed from Beijing, state media have covered the cases extensively, but discussion on Chinese-language social media platforms has been partially censored, with certain hashtags leading to post deletions. Members of the Chinese diaspora in Europe travelled to Berlin to attend the verdict, expressing solidarity with victims and anger at the objectification of women. The presiding judge in the Munich trial of one network member noted that such crimes are not a Chinese or French phenomenon but exist worldwide, referencing the Pelicot trial in France.

German privacy laws restrict the full identification of defendants, and large portions of the Chinese network trial were held in closed session to protect victims. The investigations in both cases expanded significantly after initial suspicions: in the palliative care case, a care service alerted authorities, leading to exhumations and toxicology reports; in the network case, investigators spent years analysing dozens of Telegram chat groups with tens of thousands of members. The Berlin court’s ruling on Johannes M. opens the way for further charges related to the 76 other deaths, with the convicted doctor stating he will cooperate more fully in forthcoming proceedings. The Zhiting S. verdict is subject to appeal, his lawyer announced.