Latest news with #DanielaKlette
The Guardian
15-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Taxi drivers, a tackle and a cowboy: photos of the day
A Palestinian child, Osama Kamal Al Rakab, who is suffering from malnutrition. Since 2 March, Israel has closed its Gaza Strip border crossings to humanitarian aid trucks and continues its deadly attacks, deepening the crisis of medicine and food in the territory Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images The former Baader-Meinhof militant Daniela Klette appears in court accused of armed robbery and attempted murder. The 66-year-old, who was the last female member at large of the 70s terror network, had been living quietly in Berlin Photograph: Sina Schuldt/AFP/Getty Images Daisy Trejo Caro holds her two-year-old nephew, Liam, outside their destroyed California home to view the start of debris removal by Army Corps of Engineers contractors. Seven family members lived in the building, which was destroyed in January by the Eaton fire, and they hope to rebuild it Photograph:Taxi drivers line their vehicles along a central road to protest against regulations during a one-day strike Photograph: Petros Giannakouris/AP The scene of a fatal shooting in Ambarvale. A 65-year-old woman died after being hit in the leg by a bullet during a drive-by targeting a home Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/AAP A man cries during a demonstration against the detention of alleged political prisoners. Dozens of relatives gathered in Caracas to pray for the release of their loved ones, most of whom were detained during the crisis that followed last July's elections Photograph: Miguel Gutiérrez/EPA Bernie Sanders speaks during Fighting Oligarchy, his event at the Ford Idaho Center Photograph: Kyle Green/AP A union member shows his beret during the 'train of anger' protest, in which hundreds of dissatisfied rail users made their way to Paris to demand investment in the Paris-Clermont-Ferrand and Paris-Orleans-Limoges-Toulouse (POLT) lines Photograph: Pascal Lachenaud/AFP/Getty Images The arrest of Arnuel Marquez Colmenarez, a 33-year-old Venezuelan man, by two federal agents inside a New Hampshire courthouse. The running tackle resulted in a bystander, left, being knocked to the floor Photograph: New Hampshire Judicial Branch/Reuters Gendarmes take part in a search for the missing 28-year-old jogger Agathe Hilairet Photograph: Jumeau Alexis/ABACA/Rex/Shutterstock A gaucho, or South American cowboy, falls from his horse during the Criolla week rodeo festival Photograph: Matilde Campodonico/AP Rubbish bags piled up during a month-long strike by hundreds of refuse workers. Members of the Unite union have rejected the council's 'totally inadequate' pay offer, which it says includes pay cuts Photograph: Jacob King/PA
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former German terror group member says politics affecting her trial
Daniela Klette, a former member of the disbanded far-left terrorist organization the Red Army Fraction (RAF), told a German court on Tuesday that her trial is being conducted with politics in mind. "The trial is being conducted with a political calculation," she told the court in her first statement on the opening day of her proceeding. In her statement, which lasted around 15 minutes, the 66-year-old backed her defence lawyers' previous request to have the trial dismissed. They had argued that Klette cannot get a fair trial in Germany and have filed a motion to dismiss the case. Klette described her political world-view and the manhunt for her alleged accomplices Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg as "incendiary." Klette's lawyers said her membership in the RAF has not been proven. She has been charged with attempted murder and several robberies. Klette referred to the dissolution of the RAF in 1998 as a "de-escalation." She said the manhunt for her and her alleged two accomplices knew no boundaries and was more like a hunt for political enemies than a search for robbers.
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.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Yahoo
Ex-member of far-left German terror group on trial after years on run
High security was in place at a courtroom in northern Germany on Tuesday as the trial of a former member of a disbanded far-left terrorist organization began. Daniela Klette is on trial at the Verden Regional Court on charges of attempted murder, illegal possession of firearms and aggravated robbery allegedly committed during more than 30 years on the run. The 66-year-old was part of the Red Army Faction (RAF), a well-known German terrorist group that was founded in 1968 and remained active well into the 1990s. Due to security reasons, the trial is taking place in a secure room at the Higher Regional Court in Celle, near Hanover. A dpa reporter on the scene saw police and judicial officers securing the building armed with machine pistols, with sniffer dogs also in operation. Around 50 people gathered outside the court in support of Klette, carrying banners calling for "freedom for political prisoners." Klette is accused of committing a number of crimes after going underground in the late 1980s along with accomplices Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg, who are still at large. She was detained in Berlin in 2024 following a tip-off from a member of the public. The trio allegedly targeted cash-in-transit vans and supermarkets in northern and western Germany between 1999 and 2016 to finance their life on the run. They reportedly stole more than €2.7 million ($2.9 million) in the process. Klette is expected to submit a plea after prosecutors presented the indictment against her. The proceedings only involve suspected offences committed after the RAF disbanded in 1998. Klette has also been accused of involvement in three RAF attacks between 1990 and 1993, which could result in separate charges including attempted murder. More than 30 people were killed in Germany in attacks by the RAF.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Yahoo
Long-sought Red Army Faction militant goes on trial in Germany
CELLE, Germany (Reuters) - One of the last surviving members of the Red Army Faction group that carried out murders and kidnappings in Germany from the 1970s went on trial on Tuesday after she hid from authorities for three decades. Daniela Klette, who was arrested in Berlin in February 2024, is being tried for attempted murder, robbery and illegal possession of firearms, potentially facing life in prison, a spokesperson for the court in the northern city of Celle told Reuters. Prosecutors in November brought charges against Klette, accusing her of going on a robbery spree with two accomplices to sustain themselves financially after the RAF group formally wound itself up in 1998. Police are still searching for the two other members of the so-called third generation of the militant group, Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg. Both men are wanted for the same charges as Klette. Klette is standing trial for her role in the trio's raids on money transport vehicles and supermarkets between 1999 and 2016, robbing about 2.7 million euros ($2.9 million) in cash. The left-wing militant group, known in Germany for short as RAF, sprang out of Germany's anti-Vietnam war protests and killed some 30 people - German politicians and businessmen and U.S. soldiers - during the 1970s and 1980s. ($1 = 0.9242 euros) (Writing by Ludwig Burger; Editing by Matthias Williams)
