25-03-2025
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.
