Former German left-wing militant's guilty verdict to be reviewed

Both the defence and the prosecution have now appealed a guilty verdict handed down earlier in the week to a former German left-wing militant.

In the high-profile trial, Red Army Faction member Daniela Klette was sentenced to 13 years in prison by the regional court in the northern German town of Verden near Bremen on Wednesday. Following an immediate appeal lodged by Klette's defence team, the public prosecutor’s office also lodged an appeal on Friday, according to a spokesman. 

The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe must now review the regional court’s decision for legal errors.

The prosecution’s aim in filing this appeal is to have the attack on an armoured cash transport vehicle on June 6, 2015, in Stuhr near Bremen, classified as attempted murder. 

At the time, three masked attackers attempted to seize the contents of the van. Several shots were fired, and the driver feared for his life. The masked armed robbers fled empty-handed. 

According to the regional court’s judgement, Klette and her alleged accomplices Burkhard Garweg and Ernst-Volker Staub attacked the van. However, in the court’s view, the offence was not attempted murder but attempted armed robbery.

The public prosecutor’s appeal also challenges the total sentence, as the prosecution is seeking a 15-year prison term. 

The court found that between 1999 and 2016, Klette and her two accomplices attacked cash transport vehicles and supermarkets in northern Germany, making off with around €2 million ($2.3 million). According to the judgement, she also violated the Weapons Act and the War Weapons Control Act.

Klette’s lawyers lodged an appeal as the verdict was being read out in the courtroom. From the defence’s perspective, it is entirely unclear who committed the robberies. The only proven offence committed by Daniela Klette in their opinion is the violation of the Weapons Act because weapons were found in her Berlin flat.