Germany Grants Parole to Red Army Faction Terrorist
Brigitte Mohnhaupt, 57, was part of the Baader-Meinhof gang, also known as Red Army Faction.
The Red Army Faction was a notorious urban guerrilla group that targeted the West German capitalist establishment in the 1970s and 80s. The group was behind a series of kidnappings and killings in West Germany and responsible for one the most violent eras in the country's post-war history.
Ms. Mohnhaupt was convicted of nine murders including a judge, a banker and the employers' federation president. She was once described as the most evil and dangerous woman in West Germany.
Ms. Mohnhaupt was first arrested in Berlin in June of 1972 for her involvement in the Red Army Faction organization. She was released in February 1977 and immediately returned to the group which was still highly active.
In July of 1977 Mohnhaupt was involved in the killing of Jürgen Ponto, a banker and chairman of the Dresdner Bank Board of Directors and employer representative Hans Martin Schleyer later the same year.
Joerg Schleyer, the son of one of the Red Army's Factions most prominent victims, says members of the group have never expressed remorse for his father's death.
On September 5, 1977, a car carrying one of West German's most powerful industrialists, Hans Martin Schleyer, was ambushed in Cologne. Two members of the Red Army Faction pulled out machine guns, killed Mr. Schleyer's bodyguards and kidnapped him.
Mr. Schleyer was the head of the German Association of Employers and a former member of the Nazi party. His captors held him offering his release in exchange for the release of Red Army Faction members who had been arrested and imprisoned.
As authorities negotiated for Mr. Schleyer's release, Red Army Faction leaders committed mass suicide in prison. The kidnappers, which included Ms. Mohnhaupt, followed announcing that Mr. Schleyer had been executed. Mr. Schleyer's body was found in the trunk of a car one month later.
On May 11, 1978, Mohnhaupt was arrested in Yugoslavia where she remained in custody for four months before being released to a country of her choice. Three years later, she helped carry out an assassination attempt on U.S. General Frederick Kroesen with a RPG-7 anti-tank rocket.
Mohnaupt eluded authorities for four years until in November 1982 she was captured near a Red Army Faction arms cache near Frankfurt. She was sentenced to five times life in prison with a 24-years incompressible sentence.
When the 24 years passed, Mohnhaupt applied for parole. Just this week, a German court ruled that she qualifies for early release on a five year parole. She is likely to be freed within one month.
She is one of the last four living member of the Red Army Faction still in jail. Many of the others either died in jail or were released. Another original Baader-Meinhof gang member, Christian Klar, has also applied for parole.
The release of Ms. Mohnhaupt is a controversial decision that has sparked debate among Germany's divided public opinion.
Sources:
"Terror releases divide Germany" BBC News, February 12, 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6353233.stm
"Meinhof gang killer to be freed" BBC News, February 12, 2007 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6352903.stm
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brigitte_Mohnhaupt
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- Brigitte Mohnhaupt, 57, was part of the Baader-Meinhof gang, also known as Red Army Faction.
- After serving 24 years of 5 life sentences she has been granted parole.