Last Red Army Faction prisoner freed
Birgit Hogefeld, the last member of the German leftist terror group the Red Army Faction behind bars, was freed prison on Tuesday after serving 18 years.
Hogefeld, 54, on Monday left the Frankfurt-Preungesheim open prison in Germany after being sentenced in 1996 to life imprisonment, a spokesman for the Hesse state Justice Ministry said.
"She was released at 9:00 am on June 20," spokesman Hans Liedel said.
She had been convicted on four counts of murder for the death of three Americans and a German police officer and 10 of attempted murder in relation to a number of other RAF attacks in the 1980s.
Hogefeld was a key figure in the so-called third generation of the RAF, the murderous "anti-imperialist" extremist outfit also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang after its original founders Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof.
Her dramatic arrest in June 1993 came after a shoot-out with police in Bad Kleinen, northeast Germany, in which her partner Wolfgang Grams, with whom she had been on the run for a decade, died, together with a police officer.
Germany may yet jail another RAF member, however, with Verena Becker currently on trial - although she is out on bail - for her alleged role in the 1977 killing of West Germany's top prosecutor.
AFP/The Local/mry
Comments
See Also
Hogefeld, 54, on Monday left the Frankfurt-Preungesheim open prison in Germany after being sentenced in 1996 to life imprisonment, a spokesman for the Hesse state Justice Ministry said.
"She was released at 9:00 am on June 20," spokesman Hans Liedel said.
She had been convicted on four counts of murder for the death of three Americans and a German police officer and 10 of attempted murder in relation to a number of other RAF attacks in the 1980s.
Hogefeld was a key figure in the so-called third generation of the RAF, the murderous "anti-imperialist" extremist outfit also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang after its original founders Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof.
Her dramatic arrest in June 1993 came after a shoot-out with police in Bad Kleinen, northeast Germany, in which her partner Wolfgang Grams, with whom she had been on the run for a decade, died, together with a police officer.
Germany may yet jail another RAF member, however, with Verena Becker currently on trial - although she is out on bail - for her alleged role in the 1977 killing of West Germany's top prosecutor.
AFP/The Local/mry
Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.