Germany: Alleged leftist militant found guilty of robbery
Daniela Klette, suspected to be one of the last remaining members of the left-wing terrorist group Red Army Faction, has been found guilty for her
Daniela Klette, suspected to be one of the last remaining members of the left-wing terrorist group Red Army Faction, has been found guilty for her part in a series of robberies — but more serious charges await. Daniela Klette, allegedly one of the last remaining members of the far-left terrorist group Red Army Faction (RAF), has been standing trial for her part in a series of armed robberies of supermarkets and cash transporters. She has been found guilty and now faces 13 years in prison. She has now also been found guilty of kidnapping for ransom and attempted kidnapping for ransom, aggravated robbery, and violations of gun laws. As the verdict was announced, unrest broke out among the approximately 50 spectators in the courtroom, who shouted "Freedom for Daniela." The court found that Klette committed the crimes together with the fugitive suspected former RAF members Burkhard Garweg and Ernst-Volker Staub to finance their life in hiding. Their targets were armored trucks and cashier offices at large supermarkets; according to the indictment, the total haul amounted to €2.4 million ($2.8 million). The 67-year-old, who had been living in Berlin under a false identity for more than 30 years, could face yet another trial as federal prosecutors brought additional charges of attempted murder related to attacks dating back to the early 1990s, when the so-called "third generation" of the RAF was at its most active. Any terrorism charges, under which Klette would almost certainly have been charged had she been caught earlier, have passed their statute of limitations. Daniela Klette waved at her supporters as she entered the courtroom Image: Focke Strangmann/dpa/picture alliance Caught by AI Klette was arrested in February 2024, in central Berlin, where police said she had been living as "Claudia Ivone" for some 20 years. It remains unclear how she was able to evade authorities for decades, but Hans-Jakob Schindler, senior director at the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) think tank, said that extremist left-wing networks remain notoriously difficult for German police to infiltrate or to gather information on.
Schindler is convinced that several people in Berlin knew her identity, but kept the information to themselves. "There were active investigations against her all the time," Schindler told DW. "Daniela Klette was living a very comfortable double identity because she was protected, because those who knew who she truly was would never speak." Klette apparently led a normal social life, taking vacations abroad and attending dance and capoeira lessons. She befriended a Brazilian named Ermeson Gomes da Silva, with whom she briefly shared an apartment, though he later told the German media that he did not know her true identity until after her arrest. It was only in late 2023 that police in Lower Saxony received a tip-off about her apartment in Berlin. In December of that year, a crime podcast asked the Canadian investigative journalist Michael Colborne of the Bellingcat network to use AI facial recognition software to compare 30-year-old photos with newer ones from a Berlin capoeira studio posted on Facebook. Colborne later told the taz newspaper that it barely took him 30 minutes to identify Klette. "I would rather have caught a few fugitive neo-Nazis instead," he said. On her arrest, which she did not resist, police said they found fake Italian identification documents, as well as several firearms, including a Kalashnikov, a handgun, ammunition, explosives, around €240,000 ($280,000) in cash and several gold bars. Klette's alleged accomplices, Burkhard Garweg and Ernst-Volker Staub, are believed to be in hiding Image: Julian Stratenschulte/dpa/picture alliance Armed resistance against capitalism Klette addressed the court herself during the closing statements in mid-May, justifying her actions and apologizing for any trauma caused to cashiers and transporter drivers during the robberies. She also talked about her early activism against the Vietnam War, and how she became radicalized after she concluded that unarmed resistance against capitalism would always be smashed by the state. She did not, however, confirm that she had actually been a member of the RAF, saying only that the group had "played an important role in her life." She insisted that the German state still knows next to nothing about the final generation of the RAF, "and I hope it stays that way." "I don't think Klette's role in the overall structure of the RAF has been a particularly important one," said Schindler.
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