German left-wing militant faces trial

A FORMER member of Germany’s far-left Baader-Meinhof gang who was arrested last year after more than 30 years on the run will face trial for a series of armed robberies.

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Daniela Klette, 66, was part of the radical anti-capitalist group also known as the Red Army Faction (RAF), which carried out a series of bombings, kidnappings and killings in the 1970s and 1980s.

She was arrested in last year February at her Berlin flat, where police found a Kalashnikov assault rifle, explosives and large sums of cash, after apparently hiding there in plain sight for two decades.

Weeks earlier, the creators of a German “most wanted” podcast had stumbled across photos of Klette on Facebook attending capoeira classes in Berlin, though it is unclear whether this led to her arrest.

The trial which started yesterday in the northern city of Celle relates to robberies Klette allegedly committed with two other gang members to finance their life on the run after the RAF disbanded in 1998.

After she was detained, prosecutors also had Klette formally arrested on suspicion of involvement in three attacks in the 1990s, while the gang was still active.