Christian Klar
Christian Klar (born 20 May 1952 in Freiburg im Breisgau) is a convicted murderer and former West German terrorist[citation needed]. He became a leading member of the second generation Red Army Faction (RAF) between the 1970s and 80s. He had been incarcerated since 1982 in a Bruchsal prison, but was released on 19th of December 2008, after serving over 26 years of his life sentence. [1]
Early life
The son of a teacher and vice-principal, Klar attended school in Lorrach, and in 1972 graduated from a school in Ettlingen. He went on to study History and Philosophy in the University of Heidelberg,[2][3] and became, for awhile, a member of a young democratic movement.[4]
Around 1973 he moved to a Karlsruhe flat with his girlfriend[5] Adelheid Schulz, Gunter Sonnenberg and Knut Folkerts (who would all subsequently become RAF terrorists) and in 1974 he took part in the occupation of the Hamburg Amnesty International offices protesting against the detention of RAF prisoners.[6]
Militancy
Around 1976, Klar joined the RAF and soon became a leading member of the second generation. In November 1982 he was arrested at arms depot in Friedrichsruh. Similarly to fellow terrorist[citation needed] Brigitte Mohnhaupt, he was given a collective sentence for all the major RAF crimes since 1977. These included:[7]
- The April 1977 murder of Siegfried Buback, his driver and his bodyguard.
- The July 1977 murder of Jurgen Ponto.
- The kidnap and murder of Hanns Martin Schleyer; the murder of his driver and three bodyguards.
He was also charged with;[8]:
- Attempted murder of a Swiss border guard and a motorist in Riehen, January 1977.
- Attempted rocket attack on the offices of the Federal Prosecuter, in August 1977.
- A Zurich bank raid, murder of a bystander, and attempted murder of a policeman, in November 1979.
- An assassination attempt on U.S. General Frederick Kroesen using an RPG-7 anti-tank rocket, on 15 September 1981.
Imprisonment
Klar was imprisoned from 1982 to December 2008 [9]. In early 2007 he petitioned Bundespräsident Horst Köhler to be pardoned, but was denied. He may have damaged his chance at a pardon by making anti-capitalism comments in January 2007.[10]
See also
References
- ^ http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,597481,00.html
- ^ http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Klar
- ^ "War Without Boundaries". Time Magazine. Time Inc. 1977-10-31. Retrieved 2008-12-19.
- ^ http://www.taz.de/pt/2005/03/22/a0038.1/text.ges,1
- ^ Becker, Jillian. Hitler's Children: Story of the Baader-Meinhof Terrorist Gang, DIANE Publishing Company 1998, ISBN 0788154729 or Panther edition 1978, ISBN 0586046658, Page. 387
- ^ Christian Klar wartet auf Begnadigung. Tagesanzeiger, 12.1.2007
- ^ http://www.faz.net/s/Rub594835B672714A1DB1A121534F010EE1/Doc~EA3C48126CE5C484DB2B86F6988176CCF~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html
- ^ http://www.faz.net/s/Rub594835B672714A1DB1A121534F010EE1/Doc~EA3C48126CE5C484DB2B86F6988176CCF~ATpl~Ecommon~Scontent.html
- ^ http://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/0,1518,597481,00.html
- ^ http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,468956,00.html