A former member of the left-wing militant group Red Army Faction has been arrested after more than 30 years on the run, German authorities said on Tuesday.
The Bild newspaper, citing unnamed security sources, reported that 65-year-old Daniela Klette was arrested in Berlin on Monday night.
Klette is one of three former members of the Red Army Faction who have been wanted by police for several years. Klette, Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg were involved in at least 12 robberies in northern Germany between 1999 and 2016. They were also wanted for attempted murder. Authorities speculate that the motive behind the robberies was money rather than any political considerations.
In mid-February, investigators issued a new appeal for information about the trio on a popular television crime programme. They were listed as one of Europe’s most wanted criminals by Europol in 2020.
The Red Army Faction arose out of German student protests against the Vietnam War. The group launched a violent campaign against US imperialism and capitalist oppression of workers.
Founded by Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, the first generation of the extreme left-wing RAF committed at least 33 murders of government officials, police officers, business executives and American soldiers during its heyday in the 1970s, as well as taking many hostages.
However, the charges against Klett, as well as Garweg and Staub, relate to armed robberies worth millions of euros and at least one attempted murder committed between 1999 and 2016. The group ceased to exist in 1998, sending an anonymous letter to Reuters’ Cologne office in which the remaining members said that “urban partisans in RAF uniforms have passed into history”.
In 2007, Brigitte Mohnhaupt, a former member of the Red Army Faction described as “the most evil and dangerous woman in Germany”, was allowed to be released from prison after serving the minimum sentence – five life sentences – for nine murders committed by left-wing urban guerrillas in the 1970s and 1980s.
