Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on March 27, 2026
3 min readLast updated: March 27, 2026
Add as preferred source on GoogleGerman prosecutors have formally charged Daniela Klette, a 66‑year‑old alleged member of the Red Army Faction’s third generation, with attempted murder, bomb attacks, kidnapping and aggravated robbery stemming from 1990s assaults, after her arrest in Berlin in February 2024 following more than three
BERLIN, March 27 (Reuters) - German prosecutors have charged one of the last surviving alleged militants of the Red Army Faction with attempted murder and a string of violent attacks carried out more than three decades ago, the federal prosecutor's office said on Friday.
In charges filed on March 23 at a court in Frankfurt, prosecutors accuse 66-year-old Daniela Klette of attempted murder in two cases, attempted and completed bomb attacks, kidnapping for ransom and aggravated robbery.
Klette was arrested in Berlin in February 2024 after more than three decades on the run. German authorities were able to make the arrest after a Canadian investigative journalist used facial recognition software to locate her.
THIRD GENERATION EVADED CAPTURE
Prosecutors say Klette was part of the so-called third generation of the far-left RAF - also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang after its founders - which sought to overthrow what it saw as a fascist capitalist state and killed some 34 people between 1970 and 1991.
While the ringleaders of the first and second generations were largely captured and put on trial for murder and attempted murder, many members of the third generation were able to evade capture and go underground.
Klette is accused of participating in three attacks between 1990 and 1993, prosecutors said in a statement.
In February 1990, she allegedly helped prepare a car bomb containing more than 45 kg (100 pounds) of explosives placed outside a Deutsche Bank building in Eschborn. The device failed to detonate, but prosecutors said three security guards would likely have been killed had it exploded.
Klette is also accused of taking part in a 1991 assault in which RAF members fired more than 250 rounds from the opposite bank of the Rhine at the U.S. embassy in Bonn, endangering the lives of 20 people.
In 1993, she allegedly joined a group that overpowered guards at a new prison complex in Weiterstadt before planting explosives that caused damage worth 123 million deutschmarks (roughly $73 million).
ALREADY ON TRIAL
The Frankfurt court will now assess whether to open a full trial, a process expected to take several months.
Klette's lawyers, Lukas Theune and Berthold Fresenius, could not be reached for comment.
Klette is already on trial in Celle for a separate series of armed robberies committed between 1999 and 2016, the period after the RAF formally disbanded.
Prosecutors there accuse her and two accomplices, still at large, of stealing around 2.7 million euros ($3.1 million) and attempting to shoot their way into a cash van during a 2015 heist.
($1 = 0.8681 euros)
(Reporting by Friederike Heine; Editing by Miranda Murray and Alex Richardson)
Daniela Klette is a 66-year-old alleged member of the Red Army Faction, charged by German prosecutors for involvement in violent attacks and attempted murder during the 1990s.
She is accused of helping prepare a car bomb at Deutsche Bank in 1990, participating in a shooting at the U.S. embassy in Bonn in 1991, and planting explosives at a prison complex in 1993.
Klette was arrested in Berlin in February 2024 after more than three decades on the run, identified using facial recognition software by a Canadian journalist.
Frankfurt court is deciding on a full trial for the 1990s attacks, and she is already on trial in Celle for armed robberies committed between 1999 and 2016.
The Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang, was a far-left militant group in Germany responsible for violent attacks between 1970 and 1991.
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