VZCZCXRO1720
PP RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHLZ
DE RUEHFT #0594/01 0391140
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 081140Z FEB 07
FM AMCONSUL FRANKFURT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9459
INFO RUCNFRG/FRG COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 FRANKFURT 000594 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/AGS, EUR/PGI, S/CT 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER KCRM ASEC GM
SUBJECT: RAF Parole/Clemency Bids Divide Body Politic, Legal System; 
 Stuttgart Court to Rule Soon 
 
Sensitive but unclassified; not for internet distribution. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  In the controversial parole bid of German "Red 
Army Faction" left-wing terrorist Brigitte Mohnhaupt -- a case with 
implications for other incarcerated RAF members -- the Federal 
Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe has recommended that the Stuttgart 
Regional Court grant Mohnhaupt parole starting March 26.  The 
Stuttgart court is expected to issue a ruling by mid-February.  In a 
related case, Christian Klar (convicted with Mohnhaupt but eligible 
for parole only in 2009) has petitioned Federal President Horst 
Koehler for a pardon.  While state politicians, many victims' 
relatives, and most polled Germans oppose releasing RAF members, 
many German legal experts argue that Mohnhaupt and Klar have been 
held considerably longer than other murder convicts and should be 
subject to the same consideration for release.  The case highlights 
the German legal system's conundrum in punishing terrorism above and 
beyond "common" crime.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) Mohnhaupt (imprisoned in Aichach, Bavaria) und Klar (held in 
Bruchsal, Baden-Wuerttemberg) were leading RAF organizers and 
operatives in the 1970s and early 1980s (this is Mohnhaupt's second 
prison term, having returned to the RAF immediately after serving a 
five-year term in the mid-1970s).  In 1977, both were involved in 
the assassinations of Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback, the 
President of the Federal Employers' Association Hans-Martin 
Schleyer, and Dresdner Bank CEO Juergen Ponto; Mohnhaupt was 
involved in a 1981 rocket attack which injured then-US Army Europe 
Commanding General Frederick James Kroesen.  In 1985, Mohnhaupt and 
Klar were convicted and sentenced to five life sentences.  Neither 
has expressed remorse. 
 
¶3. (SBU) In 2006, the Stuttgart Regional Court declined Mohnhaupt's 
first parole bid, ruling that she should remain in prison at least 
until March 26, 2007 due to the "special burden of guilt" in her 
crimes.  Concerning Klar, the Stuttgart Court ruled in 1997 that he 
should not be released before January 2009. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Mohnhaupt appears to have a solid chance at gaining parole, 
since the Federal Prosecutor's office in Karlsruhe supports early 
release in this case.  A representative at the Federal Prosecutor's 
Office told us informally that anything but parole for Mohnhaupt 
would be a surprise, opining that life sentences are routinely 
commuted at fifteen years (Mohnhaupt has served more than twenty 
years) as long as the prisoner no longer poses a threat to German 
society.  The Stuttgart Regional Court is expected to rule during 
the first two weeks of February. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The early release bid by Klar (eligible for parole in 2009) 
is more complicated.  After Klar wrote Koehler requesting a 
presidential pardon, the Baden-Wuerttemberg (B-W) Ministry of 
Justice asked Freiburg-based criminal expert Helmut Kury for an 
expert opinion.  After a week of interviewing Klar, Kury made a 
positive recommendation and said that authorities should start by 
easing the conditions of Klar's imprisonment. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Conservative state authorities in B-W and Hessen (where 
many of the RAF attacks took place) reject early release for 
Mohnhaupt and Klar -- as do some Bavarian officials.  For instance, 
B-W CDU/Christian Democratic caucus chief Stefan Mappus criticized 
Kury's report on Klar and the notion of pardoning a terrorist who 
does not regret his deeds, which would send the wrong signal to 
German society and to the family members of victims.  Along similar 
lines, Hessen Interior Minister Volker Bouffier (CDU) rejected the 
idea of parole for Mohnhaupt.  B-W Minister President Guenther 
Oettinger (CDU) advised caution concerning Klar but said he is 
convinced that President Koehler will come to the right decision. 
In a Spiegel poll, 71 percent of Germans said they oppose pardoning 
Klar. 
 
¶7. (U) In contrast, a number of liberal and left-leaning German 
politicians, including former federal justice minister Klaus Kinkel 
(FDP), are in favor of leniency for Mohnhaupt and Klar.  The B-W 
Green party, for instance, supports early release for Klar.  Thomas 
Oelymayer, the Greens' spokesperson for legal issues, pointed out 
that remorse is not a necessary condition for a presidential pardon. 
 Wolfgang Hoffmann-Riem, judge at the Federal Constitutional Court 
in Karlsruhe, publicly advocated a pardon for Klar in spite of 
victim/family sentiments in the case, portraying the pardon as a 
means for Klar to new a turn leaf and for German society to close a 
chapter in its history. 
 
Hogefeld Case Re-Emerges 
------------------------ 
 
¶8. (U) The debate over Mohnhaupt and Klar has also cast attention on 
the case of Birgit Hogefeld(imprisoned near Frankfurt), another 
member of the RAF's inner circle arrested in 1993 and convicted for 
 
FRANKFURT 00000594  002 OF 002 
 
 
her role in the murder of U.S. soldier Edward Pimental and in a bomb 
attack on Rhein-Main Airbase in which two people were killed and 
eleven were injured.  Hogefeld is the only RAF member currently in 
prison who has expressed regret and sorrow, calling the soldier's 
murder a gruesome and inhuman mistake.  In 1992, she called on the 
RAF to disband (which  it did in 1998).  The Federal Court of 
Justice confirmed her verdict in 1999, making 2012 Hogefeld's 
earliest parole date.  Hogefeld and her lawyers have not commented 
on the current debate, but observers say that any pardon for Klar 
(who has never shown regret) would imply that Hogefeld should be 
pardoned as well. 
 
¶9. Consulate General Munich and Embassy Berlin contributed to this 
cable. 
 
POWELL