Daniela Klette

Daniela Marie Luise Klette (born 5 November 1958) is a German left-wing militant who is regarded as a former member of the Red Army Faction's third generation. After going underground in the 1990s, she lived for decades in Berlin under the pseudonym Claudia Ivone. After the RAF disbanded in 1998, she was arrested in 2024 as one of the last three members still on the run. From March 2025, she stood trial before the major criminal chamber of the Verden Regional Court (Landgericht) on charges of attempted murder, unlawful possession of weapons, and both attempted and completed aggravated robbery in connection with 13 robberies. On 27 May 2026, she was sentenced to 13 years in prison, but acquitted of the attempted‑murder charge due to withdrawal from the attempt. She was not prosecuted for earlier terrorist offences because the statute of limitations had expired.

Klette is alleged to have been a member of the third generation Red Army Faction active during the 1980s and 1990s. Klette is a suspect in the 1991 United States embassy sniper attack in Bonn and the 1993 bombing of a prison in Weiterstadt in the state of Hesse. In the 1990s, she went underground, living openly for decades in Berlin under a false name. In 1999, Klette, Burkhard Garweg, and Ernst-Volker Staub were suspected of robbing from an armoured vehicle in Duisburg.

Referred to by the press as "RAF pensioners", 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.

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. Following this, on 26 February 2024, Klette was arrested in Berlin by Lower Saxony Landeskriminalamt and the Berlin Police without resistance. She was initially held in a prison in Vechta.

Klette lived in the neighbourhood of Kreuzberg. Police said she was in possession of fake Italian identification documents. She had a public Facebook account, to which she had uploaded photos of herself. Her photo as "Claudia Ivone" in a capoeira club in Kreuzberg was possibly found by and Bellingcat researcher Michael Colborne, using the face biometrics software PimEyes Under German law, police are not permitted to use facial recognition software.

At the time of her arrest, Klette did not comment about the allegations made against her or her alleged RAF comrades.

Trial and sentence Klette's trial began on 25 March 2025 in a mid-level court (Landgericht) in Celle, and later moved to a more secure location in Verden.

The charge of attempted murder connected with the robberies was dismissed by the court, though prosecutors charged Klette with a separate count of attempted murder, to be tried subsequently. No terrorism charges were brought, as the statute of limitations for them had expired. On 27 May 2026 she was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Media coverage The Lower Saxon authorities gave a live press conference announcing Klette's arrest. The state's Interior Minister Daniela Behrens (SPD) spoke of a "milestone" in German criminal history. and internationally, including in the UK , the Nordic countries and Australia .

Petra Terhoeven, a historian specialised in the impact of left-wing terrorism on German society, criticised the "hype" around the arrest of Klette and the coverage of the RAF in general, and also asked for the RAF not to be lionised and its victims to be respected.