Court Grants Parole for Red Army Faction Terrorist

One of two jailed former members of the Red Army Faction terrorist group is to be freed, a court ruled today in a case which has divided Germany.

Brigitte Mohnhaupt, who has served 24 years of a life sentence for her involvement in nine murders, including those of a banker, a prosecutor and the president of the employers' federation, was granted parole by the Stuttgart state court.

"This is not a pardon, rather a decision that is based on specific legal considerations," the court said in a statement. "The decision for probation was reached based on the determination that no security risk exists."

The decision paves the way for the 57-year-old to be released, most likely late next month.

The court's deliberations have sparked fierce debate within Germany, as well as a re-examination of the terror caused in the 1970s and 80s by the ultra-left group, previously known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang.

Proponents of parole for Mohnhaupt argue that she has already spent more time behind bars than most Nazi war criminals - Albert Speer, Hitler's architect, was released after 20 years - and that the country has moved on considerably since then, notably through reunification.

However, some relatives of victims have opposed the release, saying Mohnhaupt, who was arrested in November 1982, has never expressed any remorse for her crimes.

The only other former RAF member still in prison, Christian Klar, is currently appealing for clemency from Germany's president. He still has two years to serve before qualifying for possible parole.

Mohnhaupt was considered part of the hardcore leadership of the Red Army Faction in its campaign against the West German establishment, which it considered a virtual successor to the Nazi regime, and Nato. The group, which officially disbanded in 1998, was most notorious during the so-called German Autumn of 1977.

At the peak of this, Arab sympathisers hijacked a plane carrying tourists from Majorca to Frankfurt to pressure German authorities to release captured members of the group. The plane was finally flown to Mogadishu, where German intelligence agents stormed it, killing the hijackers.

Among those most prominent in opposing the release of Mohnhaupt and Klar are the families of the 34 people killed by the Baader-Meinhof gang and Red Army Faction.

"These people don't deserve mercy," said Waltrude Schleyer, the 90-year-old widow of Hanns-Martin Schleyer, head of Germany's employers' federation who was abducted in Cologne in September 1977.

Ransom pictures of Schleyer, taken in front of the Red Army Faction's star and Kalashnikov trademark, became a potent symbol of the wave of terrorism. Weeks later he was taken to a forest in France and shot dead, his body shoved into the boot of a car.

"The worst part is that we still don't know who pulled the trigger, who the actual murderer was," said Schleyer's son, Dirk. "This will remain a mystery if Mohnhaupt and Klar are released. Then we'll never know."