The trial of Daniela Klette, a former alleged member of the Red Army Faction (RAF), took an unexpected turn when the Verden court accepted the prosecution’s request to drop five charges due to a lack of reliable testimony after decades.
This decision could bring forward the end of the trial to spring 2026, whereas hearings were initially scheduled to continue until the fall of that year. Since March 2025, Klette has been on trial for a series of attacks committed between 1999 and 2016, but the prosecution acknowledges that elderly or ill witnesses can no longer clearly recall the events, and that their memories are sometimes influenced by the media or other testimonies.
This reduction in charges also aims to expedite the proceedings, as new charges are expected to be filed in 2026. The federal justice system is indeed preparing a second trial, this time for actions attributed to the RAF in the early 1990s, including attacks against the American embassy in Bonn, the Weiterstadt prison, and a Deutsche Bank data center. This new trial is expected in the fall of 2026.