Berlin, Germany. A German court on Wednesday sentenced Daniela Klette, identified by police as a former member of the extreme-left Red Army Faction, to 13 years in prison for a series of armed robberies and an attempted kidnapping.
Verdict and arrest
Klette, 67, was arrested in 2024 after more than three decades in hiding when she was found living under an assumed name in Berlin by an investigative journalist using facial recognition software. A court spokesperson said the verdict disregarded any relationship Klette may have had with the Red Army Faction and was based solely on the robbery charges.
Court proceedings
The court said Klette and two presumed accomplices carried out armed robberies on supermarkets and a cash transporter. Court spokesperson Ahmad Mohamad said the court had emphasized from the outset that any terrorist background or political motives attributed to the defendant had no significance in relation to the robberies.
As the verdict was read under tight security, the judge was interrupted by angry shouts from supporters of Klette, German media reported.
Search and evidence
When police raided Klette’s flat, they found a cache of weapons, including part of a rocket-propelled grenade, as well as 240,000 euros in cash.
Her lawyer, Lukas Theune, said she would appeal the verdict, arguing that the court had refused to consider a number of submissions for evidence.
Background on the group
The Red Army Faction emerged from the leftist protest movements of the 1960s and carried out kidnappings and murders of prominent officials and business leaders, reaching a peak in the late 1970s before gradually declining as members were arrested or killed.
Prosecutors said Klette was part of the so-called third generation of the group, sometimes known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang after its founders. They described the militant group as one that sought to overthrow what it saw as a fascist capitalist state and said it killed about 34 people between 1970 and 1991.
The group issued a final statement in 1998 declaring an end to its “urban guerrilla warfare,” but individual members remained on the run for decades.
