Latest news with #Baader-Meinhof
Al Jazeera
25-03-2025
- Al Jazeera
Germany launches trial of former Baader-Meinhof gang member
A German court has opened the trial of a former member of the notorious far-left Red Army Faction (RAF) who was arrested last year after being found living quietly in Berlin. Now 66, Daniela Klette was brought to the court near Hanover in northern Germany on Tuesday on charges of attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms and aggravated robbery. She is accused of committing the offences alongside accomplices Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg, who were also part of the 'third generation' of the group, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang. Largely active in the 1970s and 80s, the RAF was responsible for the deaths of at least 30 people. By 1998, the group had disbanded. However, the trio is alleged to have committed violent robberies to fund their lives on the run. They are accused of stealing a total of 2.7 million euros ($2.9m) between 1999 and 2016. Police are still searching for Staub and Garweg, who would be aged 56 and 71, respectively, if they are still alive. Klette is reported to have acted mainly as a getaway driver. However, she also carried a 'realistic looking' dummy bazooka during the heists and faces a charge of attempted murder stemming from one robbery in 2015. Prosecutors opening the trial said the three suspects had 'proceeded in an extremely conspiratorial manner', renting cars and apartments under false names and sometimes setting fire to vehicles to cover their tracks. A spokesperson for the German court told the Reuters news agency that Klette potentially faces life in prison. The trial is expected to last about two years, and 12 witnesses will be heard from, according to the court. Klette had evaded arrest for more than 30 years when the police raided her Berlin apartment in February 2024 following a tip-off from a member of the public. She had reportedly been using a fake Italian passport in the name of Claudia Ivone. In her house, police found an automated assault rifle, explosives, and large sums of cash. The trial is being held in a secure room at the Higher Regional Court in Celle near Hanover due to security concerns. The building was secured by police and judicial officers armed with machine pistols and sniffer dogs as a crowd of about 50 people held a solidarity protest. Playing punk music, they held up a banner that read 'Defend revolutionary history – Freedom for Daniela and all political prisoners'. Named after early leaders Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, the armed group formed from the radical fringe of the 1960s student protest movement. In its early days, the group mobilised against what it saw as US imperialism and a 'fascist' German state riddled with former Nazis. It targeted representatives from the government, business, and judiciary. At the height of its notoriety, the RAF shot a German bank chief dead and kidnapped and killed industrialist and former SS officer Hanns Martin Schleyer. In separate proceedings to the trial launched on Tuesday, Klette is accused of playing a role in a 1991 RAF attack on the US embassy in Bonn, the German capital at the time, and a 1993 explosives attack against a prison.
Local Germany
25-03-2025
- Local Germany
German left-wing militant faces trial after decades on the run
Daniela Klette, 66, was part of the radical anti-capitalist group also known as the Red Army Faction (RAF), which carried out a series of bombings, kidnappings and killings in the 1970s and 1980s. She was arrested in February 2024 at her Berlin flat, where police found a Kalashnikov assault rifle, explosives and large sums of cash, after apparently hiding there in plain sight for two decades. Weeks earlier, the creators of a German "most wanted" podcast had stumbled across photos of Klette on Facebook attending capoeira classes in Berlin, though it is unclear whether this led to her arrest. The trial starting Tuesday in the northern city of Celle relates to robberies Klette allegedly committed with two other gang members to finance their life on the run after the RAF disbanded in 1998. After she was detained, prosecutors also had Klette formally arrested on suspicion of involvement in three attacks in the 1990s, while the gang was still active. Named after two of its early leaders, Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, the Baader-Meinhof gang emerged out of the radical fringe of the 1960s student protest movement. READ ALSO: Fugitive far-left militant wanted for decades arrested in Berlin The group's members took up arms against what they saw as US imperialism and a "fascist" German state that was still riddled with former Nazis. Advertisement Dummy bazooka At the height of its notoriety in 1977, the group shot dead a German bank chief and kidnapped and killed industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer, a former SS officer. Though the so-called German Autumn of 1977 marked the beginning of a long period of decline for the RAF, the group continued to operate for another two decades. Klette was part of a notorious trio -- along with fellow gang members Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg -- who were active as part of the RAF's "third generation" in the 1980s and 1990s. After the RAF disbanded, Klette and the two men are believed to have financed their lives in hiding through armed robberies. A policeman stands in front of a building believed to be the site where a German activist of the notorious far-left Red Army Faction (RAF) wanted for more than 30 years for attempted murder and other crimes has been arrested in Berlin, on February 27th, 2024. Photo: John Macdougall / AFP Police are still searching for Staub and Garweg, who would now be 71 and 56 if they are still alive. The trial in Celle relates to four attacks on money transporters and nine cash heists from shops in which the suspects got away with a total of €2.7 million, according to prosecutors. Klette is said to have acted mainly as the getaway driver but also faces one charge of attempted murder. Prosecutors said she carried a "realistic-looking" dummy bazooka during some of the heists. The trial is set to last around two years and will hear from 12 witnesses, according to the court. READ ALSO: What Germany's Red Army Faction can tell the world about terror Fake identity Klette reportedly put up no resistance when she was arrested at her apartment in Berlin's bohemian Kreuzberg neighbourhood. According to German media reports, she had been using a fake Italian passport and going by the name of Claudia Ivone. Neighbours told the Bild daily she had a partner about the same age as her and always said "hello" when she went out walking with her dog. Klette had no bank account and likely paid her rent in cash, possibly for several months or years at a time, according to Der Spiegel magazine. Advertisement The attacks Klette is accused of committing in the 1990s, which are being dealt with in separate proceedings, include an attempted assault on a Deutsche Bank building in Eschborn, near Frankfurt. She is also accused of playing a role in a 1991 RAF attack on the US Embassy in Bonn, which was the German capital at the time. A third accusation relates to a 1993 explosives attack against a prison then still under construction in Germany's Hesse state.
