Former Red Army Faction militant jailed for armed robberies while on the run

A German court has sentenced Daniela Klette, a former member of the Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof group, to 13 years in jail for armed robberies committed during three decades hiding in plain sight. Long Germany’s most-wanted woman , Klette was the last female member of the far-left terrorist network still on the run before her arrest at her home in Berlin in February 2024. After a 14-month trial under tight security, the Verden regional court found her guilty of six counts of aggravated robbery in conjunction with kidnapping for ransom and possession of military weapons. The 67-year-old was convicted for robberies committed between 1999 and 2016 after the dissolution of the RAF, intended to bankroll the remaining fugitives’ lives underground. “They carried out their robberies with a division of labour and in a highly conspiratorial manner,” said the presiding judge, Lars Engelke. As the court pronounced the guilty verdict, Klette listened impassively while a tumult broke out in the public gallery, local media reported. Sympathisers booed the judges and chanted “freedom for Daniela”. A group of supporters gathered outside the courtroom earlier in the day holding signs reading “solidarity with Daniela”. Supporters of Daniela Klette demonstrate outside court before the start of her trial in March 2025. Photograph: Ronny Hartmann/AFP/ Klette spent more than 30 years evading police until she was tracked down living under a pseudonym in the German capital. …