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Daniela Klette

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Daniela Klette
Born
Daniela Marie Luise Klette

(1958-11-05) 5 November 1958 (age 66)
Karlsruhe, West Germany
OrganizationRed Army Faction

Daniela Marie Luise Klette (born 5 November 1958) is a German left-wing militant. She is a suspected former German terrorist associated with the third generation Red Army Faction (RAF). She went underground in the 1990s and was arrested in February 2024.

Early life

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Daniela Marie Luise Klette was born on 5 November 1958 in Karlsruhe, West Germany.[1][2]

Activism

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Klette was active in left-wing groups from 1975 onward. These groups included the Anti-NATO movement and initiatives against the construction of Runway 18 West at Frankfurt Airport.[3]

Klette is an alleged member of the third generation Red Army Faction active during the 1980s and 1990s.[4][5][6] Klette is suspect in the 1991 United States embassy sniper attack in Bonn and the 1993 explosives attack against Weiterstadt prison under construction in the state of Hesse.[7]

In the 1990s, Klette went underground.[8] In 1999, Klette, Garweg, and Staub were suspected of robbing DM 1 million from an armoured vehicle in Duisburg.[9]

Referred to by the press as "RAF pensioners",[10] Staub, Garweg, and Klette are also associated with several robberies in the 2000s and 2010s: in Bochum-Wattenscheid (27/12/2006), Wolfsburg (28/12/2015), Cremlingen (25/06/2016) and Stuhr (06/06/2015). The German public prosecutor's office had been investigating the three since 2015 for attempted murder and various attempted and completed aggravated robberies between 1999 and 2016.[11] In 2016, three Germans matching their description were mistakenly arrested by Dutch police after renting a farmhouse near Medemblik in the north of the Netherlands.[12] The Bundeskriminalamt (Federal Criminal Police Office) put out a public appeal for information leading to her arrest, or that of accomplices Burkhard Garweg and Ernst-Volker Staub, offering a reward of 150,000 euros.[2] Police found her after a tip-off from the public in November 2023.

As of February 2024 it was unclear how she managed to stay underground for 30 years.[10]

Arrest

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On 26 February 2024, Klette was arrested in Berlin by LKA Niedersachsen and the Berlin Police without resistance.[4] She was charged with involvement in six armed robberies in which millions of euros were stolen, and at least one attempted murder. The crimes were alleged to have been committed between 1999 and 2016. Burkhard Garweg and Ernst-Volker Staub were also alleged to have been involved.[13]

Daniela Klette lived at Sebastianstrasse 73, on the fifth floor, under the assumed name Claudia Ivone and an Italian passport.[4][14] She also had a Facebook account.[15][16]

It was pointed out that her photo as "Claudia Ivone"[17] in a capoiera club in Kreuzberg could have been found by Khesrau Behroz [de] and Bellingcat researcher[18][19] Michael Colborne, using the face biometrics software PimEyes[20][21] for the Legion: Most Wanted podcast.[22][23] It was claimed that it was illegal for police to use this kind of software in their investigations.[24]

Investigation

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Daniela Klette has made no statements about the allegations made against her or about the RAF comrades.[25]

Media coverage

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The arrest of Daniela Klette was headline news in all German media outlets for days.

The Lower Saxon authorities gave a live press conference announcing the arrest of the former terrorist, who had been wanted for 30 years. Lower Saxony's Interior Minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) spoke of a "milestone" in German crime history. The head of the LKA Lower Saxony called the arrest a “masterpiece”.[26]

According to historian Petra Terhoeven, the reporting had boulevard-esque features. The Tagesspiegel described in detail the ordinary furnishings of Klette's one-room apartment.[27]

References

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  1. ^ "Daniela Marie Luise Klette". Open Sanctions. Archived from the original on 19 January 2022.
  2. ^ a b "Public appeal for information relating to the location of Daniela Klette" (PDF). Bundeskriminalamt. n.d. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 February 2024.
  3. ^ Alexander Straßner: Die dritte Generation der "Roten Armee Fraktion": Entstehung, Struktur, Funktionslogik und Zerfall einer terroristischen Organisation. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2003, S. 108.
  4. ^ a b c "A former member of Germany's Red Army Faction has been arrested after decades in hiding". AP News. 27 February 2024. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  5. ^ "Far-left RAF terror suspect Daniela Klette arrested". Deutsche Welle. 27 February 2024. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  6. ^ "German Red Army Faction trio wanted by Dutch police". The Guardian. Agence France-Presse. 26 July 2016.
  7. ^ Alexander Straßner: Die dritte Generation der „Roten Armee Fraktion": Entstehung, Struktur, Funktionslogik und Zerfall einer terroristischen Organisation. Westdeutscher Verlag, Wiesbaden 2003, S. 142.
  8. ^ deutschlandfunkkultur.de (20 January 2016). "Fahndung nach mutmaßlichen Terroristen - "Die dritte RAF-Generation ist komplett gescheitert"". Deutschlandfunk Kultur (in German). Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  9. ^ Moncourt, A.; Smith, J. (2009). The Red Army Faction Volume 1: Projectiles for the people (ebook ed.). Montreal, Quebec: Kersplebedeb. ISBN 978-1-60486-029-0.
  10. ^ a b "Daniela Klette: Alleged Red Army Faction member held after 30 years". BBC. 27 February 2024. Retrieved 4 March 2024.
  11. ^ "BKA - Fahndungen RAF Übersicht - Fahndung nach KLETTE, Daniela".
  12. ^ Cluskey, Peter (2 September 2016). "German tourists mistaken for notorious 1970s terror gang". Irish Times. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  13. ^ "One of Germany's most notorious criminals arrested after decades on the run". SBS News. 27 February 2024. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  14. ^ "Was über die Suche nach den früheren RAF-Mitgliedern bislang bekannt ist". www.rbb24.de (in German). 5 March 2024. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
  15. ^ "Staatsanwaltschaft - Frühere RAF-Terroristin Daniela Klette in Berlin festgenommen". 27 February 2024.
  16. ^ "Red Army Faction militant arrested in Germany after decades on run". The Guardian. 27 February 2024. Retrieved 27 February 2024.
  17. ^ Solomon, Erika; Schuetze, Christopher F. (2 March 2024). "How Facial ID Tools Found a 30-Year Fugitive: What Eluded Germany Hid in Plain Sight". The New York Times. Vol. 173, no. 66081. pp. A1, A7. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  18. ^ "Berlin: Fanden Journalisten RAF-Terroristin Klette mit Gesichtserkennung?". Bild-Zeitung (in German). 28 February 2024. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  19. ^ ""Scheinbar hat Klette ganz normal ihr Leben gelebt"". Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (in German). 28 February 2024. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  20. ^ Higgins, Eliot (28 February 2024). "Eliot Higgins (@EliotHiggins): Somewhat bizarrely his happened after Bellingcat's @ColborneMichael discussed matching a suspected recent photo of Klette using PimEye's to Klette older photos on a podcast, leading the police to follow up the match". Twitter. Event occurs at 10:10. Somewhat bizarrely his happened after Bellingcat's @ColborneMichael discussed matching a suspected recent photo of Klette using PimEye's to Klette older photos on a podcast, leading the police to follow up the match
  21. ^ Westerkamp, Joscha F. (28 February 2024). "Michael Colborne über Daniela Klette: "Ich empfehle euch dringend, diese Spur zu verfolgen"". Die Zeit (in German). ISSN 0044-2070. Retrieved 28 February 2024.
  22. ^ Behroz, Khesrau [in German]. "Most Wanted: Wo ist RAF-Terroristin Daniela Klette? Monika (1/2)" [Most Wanted: Where is RAF terrorist Daniela Klette? Monika (1/2)] (PDF). Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (in German). Retrieved 29 February 2024.. In this episode Colborne is introduced to the listeners as a Bellingcat employee investigating far-right extremism and having expertise in face biometrics. Colborne matches face of the first suspect "Monika" to the face of Klette using the software by Amazon, and gives his opinion about the result that there is no match. Then it is said that using another software they have managed to find another suspect in Berlin.
  23. ^ Behroz, Khesrau [in German]. "Most Wanted: Wo ist RAF-Terroristin Daniela Klette? Felizia (2/2)" [Most Wanted: Where is RAF terrorist Daniela Klette? Felicia (2/2)] (PDF). Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (in German). Retrieved 29 February 2024. In the episode Colborne describes the purpose of another biometric software which searches for images in the Internet having faces similar to a certain one, his use of the software, their discovery of dozens of photos of a female they nickname as "Felicia" in a Berlin capoiera club, his opinion about how much the face on the photos match the one on Klette's photo ("strongly suspect that these two individuals are the same person"), their analysis of photos on Facebook page of the club chairman, which was sharing photos and videos of the club's dance lessons there, presence of "Felicia" in some of them, and their visit to the club and observation of the photos of "Felicia" there too, and their interview to the club employee mentioning that "Felicia" has not been seen in the club for some years.
  24. ^ Connolly, Kate (2 March 2024). "Daniela Klette: dog walker, dancer – and Germany's most-wanted woman". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 4 March 2024. The police are prohibited by strict privacy laws from using similar face comparison tools, instead relying on an artist's impression of how Klette might have looked aged 65.
  25. ^ "Einsatz in Berlin-Kreuzberg: Waffen in Wohnung von Ex-RAF-Terroristin Klette gefunden – Granate entschärft". Der Spiegel (in German). 29 February 2024. ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 6 March 2024.
  26. ^ NACHRICHTEN, n-tv. "Ermittler nennen Klette-Festnahme "Meisterstück"". n-tv.de (in German). Retrieved 13 March 2024.
  27. ^ Übermedien (9 March 2024). "Verkulten Medien die RAF immer noch?". Übermedien (in German). Retrieved 13 March 2024.
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