Dark page in German history - back in the headlines

The destroyed car of U.S. General Frederick J. Kroesen is seen in Heidelberg, Germany, after terrorists of the Red Army Faction fired grenades from a Soviet-built RPG-7 launcher at the car, Sept. 15, 1981. The General and his wife were slightly injured.

A former member of the left-wing extremist Red Army Faction, which terrorized pre-unification West Germany in the 1970s, is slated for an early release from prison after serving 24 years of a life sentence.

But, as DW's Gregg Benzow reports, the German court ruling that Brigitte Mohnhaupt can be let out for good behavior has unleashed a storm of protest across the country:

The Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang after its founders Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, mounted a violent campaign of murders, kidnappings and bombings from 1977 to 1982 against what it considered to be an oppressive capitalist state.

It targeted the German business elite and the U.S. military based in Germany and is considered responsible for the murder of at least 34 people.

The RAF, as it was also called, renounced violence in 1992 after most of the group was either killed or put in prison and officially disbanded six years later.

The main entrance building of the jail in Aichach, southern Germany, where convicted terrorist Brigitte Mohnhaupt is serving a life sentence for murder.

But the move to release Brigitte Mohnhaupt, who was found guilty for her role in nine murders, including those of leading industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer and federal prosecutor Siegfried Buback, has sparked outrage across the country:

Many left-wing politicians, from the Social Democrats to the Greens, which in its infancy in the 1970s harbored many sympathizers of the Red Army Faction, have welcomed clemency for Mohnhaupt, calling it a chance to turn the page on a dark chapter of post-war German history.

But Günther Beckstein, an influential conservative leader and Interior Minister of Bavaria, criticized the court's decision:

"Due to the severity of the crime I can't imagine that the victim's relatives will feel justice has been done when such people are set free."

The kidnapping and murder in September 1977 of Hanns Martin Schleyer, head of the German Employers Federation, was the RAF's highest-profile attack.

Schleyer was snatched from his car in Cologne in an attempt to blackmail the German government to release imprisoned Red Army members.

His bodyguard, driver and two policemen also died in the attack.

Court spokeswoman Josefine Koeblitz adresses the media during a press conference to inform the media about the pardon of Red Army Faction terrorist Brigitte Mohnhaupt at the appellate court in Stuttgart, Germany

Several weeks later, Arab sympathizers hijacked a plane to pressure the German authorites to release captured members of the group.

A number of RAF members allegedly trained at Palestinian guerilla camps in Libya, Algeria and Tunisia.

Former German foreign minister and Green Party leader, Joschka Fischer, was also known to have visited such a camp.

The son of Mr. Schleyer also expressed dismay at the court ruling:

"Many of the victim's relatives have died, gone insane or become alcoholics because of those crimes. That should be taken into account. These people trusted the government and thought justice would prevail. It is very difficult to accept this clemency."

Meanwhile, another prominent member of the Red Army Faction, Christian Klar, is awaiting the outcome of a plea to German President Horst Köhler to be pardoned.

Klar and Mohnhaupt were leaders of the second generation of RAF members after Baader and Meinhof committed suicide in prison.

Neither one has ever expressed any remorse for their crimes.