A German court sentenced former Red Army Faction member Daniela Klette to 13 years in prison on Wednesday for a series of armed robberies carried out between 1999 and 2016.
Klette, now 67, was living in a Berlin apartment before police finally caught her in 2024 after more than 30 years as a fugitive. Neighbors said she mostly kept to herself, walked her dog around the area, and didn't draw much attention. Authorities say she had been using the name “Claudia” while living in the Kreuzberg district.
The court in Verden, Lower Saxony, convicted Klette on Wednesday of aggravated robbery and weapons offenses tied to eight robberies across Germany. Prosecutors said she worked with former RAF fugitives Burkhard Garweg and Ernst-Volker Staub, who are still missing.
The robberies were mainly on armored transport vehicles and supermarkets. In one 1999 attack in Duisburg, masked gunmen rammed an armored vehicle and threatened guards with firearms and a grenade launcher before escaping with money. In another raid near Braunschweig in 2016, nearly €1.4 million ($1.6 million USD) was stolen.
Klette’s defense team had pushed for an acquittal, arguing prosecutors failed to prove she directly participated in the robberies. The court rejected those arguments. Supporters showed up to the courtroom on Wednesday, chanting “freedom for Daniela” and booing the verdict.
Hans-Jakob Schindler of the Counter Extremism Project told the BBC that Klette had become “a kind of grandmother heroine for the extreme left in Berlin”.
Police uncovered weapons, ammunition, false passports, wigs, gold, cash, and a replica rocket-propelled grenade during a search of her apartment after the arrest.
The Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang, carried out bombings, kidnappings, and killings in Germany from the 1970s through the early 1990s. Klette was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Klette, now 67, was living in a Berlin apartment before police finally caught her in 2024 after more than 30 years as a fugitive. Neighbors said she mostly kept to herself, walked her dog around the area, and didn't draw much attention. Authorities say she had been using the name “Claudia” while living in the Kreuzberg district.
The court in Verden, Lower Saxony, convicted Klette on Wednesday of aggravated robbery and weapons offenses tied to eight robberies across Germany. Prosecutors said she worked with former RAF fugitives Burkhard Garweg and Ernst-Volker Staub, who are still missing.
The robberies were mainly on armored transport vehicles and supermarkets. In one 1999 attack in Duisburg, masked gunmen rammed an armored vehicle and threatened guards with firearms and a grenade launcher before escaping with money. In another raid near Braunschweig in 2016, nearly €1.4 million ($1.6 million USD) was stolen.
Klette’s defense team had pushed for an acquittal, arguing prosecutors failed to prove she directly participated in the robberies. The court rejected those arguments. Supporters showed up to the courtroom on Wednesday, chanting “freedom for Daniela” and booing the verdict.
Hans-Jakob Schindler of the Counter Extremism Project told the BBC that Klette had become “a kind of grandmother heroine for the extreme left in Berlin”.
Police uncovered weapons, ammunition, false passports, wigs, gold, cash, and a replica rocket-propelled grenade during a search of her apartment after the arrest.
The Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang, carried out bombings, kidnappings, and killings in Germany from the 1970s through the early 1990s. Klette was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
