The investigation against former RAF terrorist Daniela Klette is expected to be completed by the end of November. The trial is supposed to take place in Verden, Lower Saxony – but there is a problem there.
The Verden public prosecutor’s office will soon complete the investigation against the former RAF terrorist Daniela Klette. An indictment is expected by the end of November at the latest, as the Lower Saxony Ministry of Justice confirmed.
Preparations for a mammoth trial
The Verden regional court must then decide whether to admit the charges. However, preparations for a possible trial have long been underway in the background. There is one problem in particular that concerns the authorities: there is a lack of space in the city with just over 28,000 inhabitants. The search has been going on for months. No final solution has yet been found, said the ministry spokeswoman.
The investigators assume a large number of co-plaintiffs, witnesses and experts. “You can expect that you will need more space than in a normal procedure and the regional court is preparing for this if charges are brought,” Lower Saxony’s Justice Minister Kathrin Wahlmann (SPD) told NDR.
Extensive investigations against former RAF trio
In addition, high safety standards must be adhered to. Daniela Klette belonged to the so-called third generation of the left-wing extremist Red Army Faction (RAF). In 1998 the RAF, which killed more than 30 people, declared itself disbanded. The crimes in the region had no terrorist background, as the investigators emphasize.
The Verden public prosecutor’s office has been investigating the 65-year-old and her alleged accomplices Ernst-Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg for many years. They accuse the trio of attempted murder as well as attempted and completed aggravated robbery. The three are said to have robbed money transporters and supermarkets in Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein between 1999 and 2016 in order to finance their underground life.
According to their own information, the investigators assume 13 robbery crimes with damage of more than 2.7 million euros. The trio is also being investigated for attempted murder because shots were fired during attacks in Stuhr (Diepholz district) and Cremlingen (Wolfenbüttel district). In addition, the former RAF members are accused of extortionate kidnapping.
Arrest and searches in Berlin
At the end of February this year, investigators arrested Klette in Berlin-Kreuzberg, where she was living under an assumed name. She has been in the women’s prison in Vechta since her arrest. The pre-trial detention has already been extended once. Klette publicly denies having attempted murder and speaks of state “denunciation” and “media incitement.”
During searches of her apartment, police officers found, among other things, a dummy hand grenade, weapons, handcuffs, balaclavas, a kilogram of gold, more than 240,000 euros in cash, digital media and photos. Shortly after Klette’s arrest, investigators also confiscated a construction trailer in Berlin-Friedrichshain, where Garweg is said to have lived under the code name Martin.
But there is still no trace of the 56-year-old and 70-year-old Volker Staub. According to the public prosecutor’s office, rewards of up to 125,000 euros are offered for tips that lead to the men’s capture. Tips can also be given anonymously. The State Criminal Police Office warns against approaching those you are looking for yourself because they may be armed.
Further investigations by the Federal Prosecutor’s Office
There are also arrest warrants against Klette, Staub and Garweg on suspicion of involvement in terrorist attacks. The highest prosecution authority in Germany, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office in Karlsruhe, accuses Klette of attempted murder in two cases and of complicity in explosive explosions in three RAF attacks between February 1990 and March 1993. Membership in the terrorist organization Red Army Faction (RAF) itself is now statute-barred.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office is responsible for investigating the terrorist attacks. In this complex, another indictment and thus another court case against Klette are expected. The proceedings must be conducted separately from the prosecution in Verden.
Source: Stern
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