Germany's most wanted woman Daniela Klette jailed for 13 years after evading police for three decades

A German court has sentenced former Red Army Faction member Daniela Klette to 13 years in prison for a series of armed robberies carried out while she spent decades living under the radar. Klette, once considered Germany’s most-wanted woman, was arrested in Berlin in February 2024 after more than 30 years on the run. She was the last female fugitive linked to the RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof group. Following a heavily secured 14-month trial, the Verden regional court convicted the 67-year-old on six counts of aggravated robbery connected to kidnapping for ransom, along with possession of military-grade weapons.

The crimes took place between 1999 and 2016, years after the RAF officially dissolved, with prosecutors arguing the robberies were used to finance the underground lives of remaining fugitives. “They carried out their robberies with a division of labour and in a highly conspiratorial manner,” presiding judge Lars Engelke said during the ruling. According to local media, Klette remained expressionless as the guilty verdict was announced, while supporters in the courtroom erupted in protest. Sympathisers booed the judges and shouted ‘freedom for Daniela’, while demonstrators gathered outside carrying banners reading 'solidarity with Daniela'.

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Klette had been living under a false identity in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district for roughly two decades before investigators tracked her down. Police discovered weapons, forged identification papers, wigs, gold, and around €240,000 in cash inside her apartment. Officers also recovered a fake bazooka and evidence believed to be tied to the robbery proceeds. Prosecutors said Klette worked alongside accomplices Burkhard Garweg, 57, and Ernst-Volker Staub, 72, targeting cash transport vans and supermarkets across several German states.

Authorities believe the trio stole more than €2 million during the robberies. Investigators said DNA evidence from both men was found inside Klette’s flat, including traces discovered on an electric toothbrush. Garweg and Staub remain fugitives. Klette’s defence team argued she should be acquitted, claiming prosecutors failed to prove her direct involvement in the robberies and insisting the weapons charges alone would not justify a prison sentence. At the beginning of the trial in March 2025, Klette publicly denounced the proceedings as politically driven and pledged loyalty to the struggle against capitalism and the patriarchy.

German prosecutors separately accuse Klette of involvement in three politically motivated attacks during the 1990s while the RAF was still active. Those allegations are being handled in Frankfurt. She cannot be prosecuted again for membership in a terrorist organisation because the statute of limitations expired in 2018, twenty years after the RAF officially disbanded. Before her arrest, Klette had reportedly become active in a Brazilian cultural centre in Berlin, where she practised capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian martial art that blends dance and combat techniques.

Investigators believe photographs taken during Berlin’s Carnival of Cultures, showing Klette smiling with her capoeira group while wearing a white bandana and tossing flower petals, ultimately helped authorities identify and arrest her. The RAF, founded by Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, was responsible for a violent campaign across West Germany during the 1970s and 1980s involving bombings, kidnappings, assassinations, and armed attacks.

The militant anti-capitalist group claimed to be fighting against US imperialism and what it described as a ‘fascist’ German state influenced by former Nazis. Authorities believe the RAF was responsible for at least 30 deaths and around 200 injuries.