Daniela Klette sees herself as a victim of "denunciation"
Six months after her arrest, suspected former RAF terrorist Daniela Klette has published a statement regarding the charges against her. There is no mention of remorse in the statement. Instead, the 65-year-old complains about "state denunciation" and "media hysteria".
The RAF suspect Daniela Klette, who has been in custody for half a year, has spoken out for the first time about the charges against her. In a personal statement obtained by the "Süddeutsche Zeitung", she denies having attempted murder and speaks of "state denunciation" and "media hysteria" against her and her former RAF associates Burkhard Garweg and Ernst-Volker Staub. Investigators in Lower Saxony accuse them of committing eight heavily armed robberies between 1999 and 2016 to finance their life underground.
"The public prosecutor's office in Verden is constructing a story in which I, along with Volker Staub and Burkhard Garweg, who are still being pursued with massive effort and accompanied by brazen media hysteria, are supposed to have been a ruthless gang," Klette's statement begins, which consists of five sentences. "26 years after the dissolution of the RAF, the state continues to escalate and denounce. They claim that we were ready to kill people for money to survive in illegality. For people from the history of the revolutionary left in the FRG, this would never have been an option," claims Daniela Klette.
"In the struggle for liberation, it's about a world without greed for money"
The public prosecutor in Verden accuses the 65-year-old of having carried a rocket launcher herself during one of the robberies, and that all three perpetrators were aware that they might have to accept fatalities. Daniela Klette writes: "On the contrary: In the struggle for liberation, it's about a world without greed for money, free from exploitation and any form of oppression."
While the public prosecutor accuses her of having spent the past 26 years engaged in purely selfish criminal activity, Klette maintains a self-image as an activist. There is no mention of remorse. Neither is there any sympathy for the people who were attacked during the robberies in her statement.
Lawyers: No DNA from Klette found at robbery crime scenes
According to the report, Klette's lawyers have pointed out to the court that the DNA traces on which the Lower Saxony investigators base their charges against Klette are extremely weak. No DNA from Klette was found at any of the robbery crime scenes. It was only found in some of the getaway vehicles. In one of the robberies, in 2006 in Bochum-Wattenscheid, there was not even that.
Daniela Klette is currently in custody in the women's prison in Vechta, Lower Saxony. A trial against her for the robberies is expected to begin in the spring.
The police are closely monitoring Daniela Klette's case due to her alleged involvement in the robberies. Despite the DNA traces found in some getaway vehicles, no evidence was found at the crime scenes linking Klette directly to the robberies.
In her statement, Daniela Klette criticizes the police and media for their handling of her case, accusing them of "state denunciation" and "media hysteria."
