Former German far-left terrorist from RAF sentenced to 13 years for robberies

A former member of the German far-left terrorist group Red Army Faction (RAF), Daniela Klette, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for armed robberies carried out during her decades on the run. The court convicted Klette, 67, on charges including aggravated robbery, attempted robbery, weapons law violations, and extortion.

The offenses involved attacks targeting supermarkets and cash transport vehicles, perpetrated alongside two accomplices who remain at large. During the sentencing at the regional court in Verden, Lower Saxony, supporters of Klette protested in the courtroom, calling for her release. Judicial officers eventually escorted them out.

Klette was apprehended in her Berlin apartment in February 2024, having evaded authorities for over 30 years. She went into hiding before the RAF officially disbanded in 1998. Prosecutors alleged that Klette, along with former RAF members Burkhard Garweg and Ernst-Volker Staub, committed 13 robberies across western and northern Germany between 1999 and 2016. The court ultimately heard the case concerning eight of these robberies, where masked and heavily armed perpetrators stole over two million euros.

The defense argued there was insufficient evidence of Klette's direct involvement in these acts, asserting that only weapons law violations were proven. Police discovered weapons, ammunition, a grenade launcher replica, fake IDs, wigs, gold, and 240,000 euros in cash at her residence. Klette belonged to the RAF's third generation. The organization, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Group, was responsible for numerous bombings, assassinations, and robberies, resulting in over 30 deaths before its dissolution in 1998. The trial in Verden focused solely on Klette's criminal activities after the RAF's dissolution, as her membership in the terrorist organization is now beyond the statute of limitations.