German President Horst Kohler on Monday bowed to pressure from his fellow conservatives and refused clemency to a key member of the Red Army Faction (RAF) movement involved in terrorizing Germany three decades ago.
Kohler, who last week secretly met Christian Klar, 54, who is serving six life sentences for nine murders carried out in the 1970s, gave no reason for his decision, but his office said it had been based on lengthy discussions with legal experts, prison authorities and personal meetings with the relatives of some of the RAF's victims as well as with Klar.
The German media had been waiting with bated breath for Kohler's verdict, which is just the latest in a series of twists and turns in Germany's attempts to draw a line under the RAF chapter and the trail of destruction the gang left across the country in the autumn of 1977 in its efforts to crush capitalism. The 30th anniversary of the so-called "German Autumn" is being marked with the release of films, plays, books and biographies on the urban guerillas.
Between 1970 and 1991, the RAF -- which was also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang after its founders, Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof -- is believed to have carried out 34 murders, largely of industrial leaders and senior public figures.
The decision on Klar comes shortly after the release from a multiple life sentence of former RAF leader Brigitte Mohnhaupt. In a separate decision Kohler refused to pardon another member, Birgit Hogefeld, who is 14 years into a life sentence for the 1985 bombing of a US military air base in which two people died.
Klar was sentenced to a minimum of 24 years in prison for his involvement in nine murders, including those of the chief West German federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback, the industrial association leader Hanns-Martin Schleyer and Jurgen Ponto, the head of Dresdner Bank in 1977.
Kohler's decision to meet Klar was based on a request from the former terrorist.
But the mere fact that Klar's release was being contemplated brought angry reactions from many Christian Democrats.
They argued that, because Klar had shown no public remorse, he did not deserve to be shown any mercy.
They even indirectly threatened not to elect Kohler for a second term if he decided to release Klar.
The attacks on Kohler became so fierce that Chancellor Angela Merkel weighed in and asked her colleagues not to interfere with his decision.
"I ask that we all, regardless of how the president decides in the end, respect the decision of Horst Kohler," she said in a statement.
Klar's case was weakened after it was discovered he had sent a message this year to a leftwing conference talking of "completing the defeat" of capitalism and "opening the door for a different future."
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was