Germany’s Most-Wanted Woman Sentenced to 13 Years After 30 Years on the Run

After more than three decades of evading the law, 67-year-old Daniela Klette has finally been sentenced to 13 years in prison by a German court. Klette, a former member of the notorious far-left militant group known as the Red Army Faction (RAF) or the Baader-Meinhof group, was once Germany’s most-wanted woman.

The sentencing follows a 14-month trial held under high security in Verden. The court found her guilty of six counts of aggravated robbery, kidnapping for ransom, and the possession of military-grade weapons. While she was originally known for her ties to the RAF’s attacks on capitalist interests, these specific convictions stem from crimes committed between 1999 and 2016—long after the group had officially disbanded. Prosecutors argued that these robberies were carried out to fund the lives of Klette and her fellow fugitives while they lived underground.

The trial judge described the robberies as highly organized and carried out in a conspiratorial manner. When the verdict was read, Klette remained calm and impassive, even as supporters in the gallery broke out in chants of "freedom for Daniela." Outside the courtroom, protesters held signs of solidarity, highlighting the polarizing nature of her past and her long-term survival in hiding.

Klette was eventually captured in February 2024 at her apartment in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district, where she had been living under a pseudonym for about 20 years. During the raid, police discovered an arsenal that included a fake bazooka and actual military weapons, as well as over €240,000 in cash, wigs, and forged documents. While Klette is now behind bars, her suspected accomplices, Burkhard Garweg and Ernst-Volker Staub, remain at large.

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