Germany's most wanted woman jailed after 30 years on the run

German far-left extremist Daniela Klette, a former Red Army Faction member, has been sentenced to 13 years in prison. The 67-year-old had evaded police for over three decades before being captured in a Berlin apartment in 2024.

A German court has sentenced Daniela Klette, a former member of the Red Army Faction (RAF), to 13 years in prison — bringing to a close one of Germany's longest-running fugitive cases. Klette, 67, had been living under an assumed identity in a Berlin apartment using a foreign passport when she was finally arrested in 2024 after more than 30 years on the run.

Three Decades as a Fugitive

Klette had long held the dubious distinction of being Germany's most wanted woman. Authorities had been hunting her since the early 1990s, making her one of the last remaining symbols of the RAF, a far-left terrorist organisation that carried out bombings, assassinations, and robberies in West Germany from the late 1960s through to the 1990s. Her capture in the German capital was the result of a painstaking, decades-long investigation.

The arrest shocked many observers not only because of its long-awaited nature, but also because of how ordinary her hidden life appeared. Klette had managed to blend into Berlin society under a false identity, raising questions about how she had remained undetected for so long in one of Europe's most surveilled cities.

Sentence Handed Down

The 13-year sentence reflects the severity of the charges connected to her RAF activities. The Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Group after its founders, was responsible for some of the most destabilising acts of political violence in postwar German history, including the murders of prominent industrialists and public officials during the so-called "German Autumn" of 1977.

Klette's conviction marks a significant, if long-delayed, moment of judicial closure for Germany. While the RAF officially disbanded in 1998, the capture and sentencing of its remaining fugitive members has remained a matter of national importance — a reminder that the consequences of political extremism can endure for generations.