Caught After Decades: Former RAF Member Faces New Charges

German authorities have brought charges against Daniela Klette, a former member of the Red Army Faction, for violent acts carried out in the early 1990s. The accusations include attempted murder, bomb attacks that were both failed and successful, kidnapping for ransom, and aggravated robbery. Klette, now 66, was apprehended in Berlin last month after being on the run for more than thirty years. Her capture followed a breakthrough by a Canadian journalist who used facial‑recognition technology to locate her. Klette belonged to the so‑called third generation of the RAF, a group that continued the organization’s left‑wing militancy after its founding leaders were arrested. While earlier leaders faced trial, many of the later members slipped through law‑enforcement cracks and went underground. Prosecutors say Klette participated in three major attacks between 1990 and 1993.The first incident involved a car bomb placed outside a Deutsche Bank office in Eschborn. The device, weighing over 45 kilograms of explosives, failed to detonate, but authorities believe it could have killed three security guards. The second attack was a gunfire assault on the U. S. embassy in Bonn, where RAF operatives fired more than 250 rounds from across the Rhine River, endangering about twenty people. The third was a prison break at a new facility in Weiterstadt, where guards were overpowered and explosives planted, causing damage estimated at 123 million deutschmarks (about $73 million). A Frankfurt court will decide whether to proceed with a full trial, a process that could take several months. Klette’s defense team has not yet commented. She is already on trial in Celle for a separate series of armed robberies that took place between 1999 and 2016, after the RAF officially disbanded. In that case, prosecutors allege she and two accomplices stole roughly 2. 7 million euros ($3. 1 million) and attempted to shoot their way into a cash van during a 2015 heist. The charges highlight how long‑term investigations can eventually bring former militants to justice, even after decades of evasion. The case also underscores the enduring impact of the RAF’s violent legacy on German society.