German court to free Baader-Meinhof terrorist after 24 years News
German court to free Baader-Meinhof terrorist after 24 years

[JURIST] A German state court in Stuttgart ruled Monday that Brigitte Mohnhaupt [Wikipedia profile], a second-generation member of the ultra-left German group Red Army Faction [Wikipedia backgrounder], also known as the Baader-Meinhof gang, will be granted parole on March 27 after being imprisoned for 24 years. The court did not grant Mohnhaupt a pardon, but determined that she need not serve out the remainder the life sentence imposed for her role in nine murders connected to the West German terrorist organization in the 1970s and 1980s because she no longer poses a security risk.

Mohnhaupt's impending release has sparked debate in Germany [JURIST news archive] with her supporters arguing she has served a longer sentence than most Nazi war criminals, and the victims' families maintaining that she does not deserve clemency. The Guardian has more.