Birgit Hogefeld

Birgit Hogefeld (born 27 July 1956) was a member of the West German terrorist group the Baader-Meinhof Gang also known as the Red Army Faction (RAF). Born in Wiesbaden, Hogefeld joined the RAF in the eighties (around 1984) long after its founding members Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Ulrike Meinhof were dead. She became the girlfriend of fellow terrorist Wolfgang Grams and moved in with him.

Arrest

In 1993 Hogefeld and Grams arrived at a train station in Bad Kleinen where a group of GSG 9 officers were waiting to arrest them (they had got a tip-off from a fellow GSG 9 officer who had infiltrated the RAF). According to the GSG 9 men, Hogefeld and Grams immediately started firing at them as soon as they saw them, and Grams shot dead an officer named Michael Newrzella. According to the police Grams committed suicide and fell on the train tracks. However it was suspected that Grams did not commit suicide but was shot by GSG 9 officers. Interior Minister Rudolf Seiters took responsibility and resigned in July of the year, as well as Chief Federal Prosecutor, Alexander von Stahl [ [http://www.specwarnet.net/europe/gsg9oops.htm Death on Track 4] , "Time" magazine, August 23, 1993 ] .

entencing

Several terrorist activities that Hogefeld was later found guilty of by a Higher Court in Germany were;

*The murder of a young GI, Edward Pimental, in 1985 to obtain his I.D. to access the grounds of the U.S. Rhein-Main Air Base near Frankfurt. Supposedly Hogefeld lured him to her home after meeting him in a bar, where he was then shot through the neck and killed. [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Pimental] Eva Haule was also involved with Pimental's murder.
*A bomb attack on the aforementioned U.S. airbase, which killed A1C Frank Scarton and Becky Jo Bristol and left twenty others injured.
*A failed assassination attempt on Hans Tietmeyer, former President of the Deutsche Bundesbank.
*The destruction of a jail. [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprengstoffanschlag_gegen_die_JVA_Weiterstadt]
*Involvement in a terrorist organisation.

In November 1996 she was given three life imprisonment sentences and is currently incarcerated in a Frankfurt detention centre. The sentence will not automatically be reviewed after 15 years. [ [http://www.germnews.de/archive/dn/1996/11/05.html#1 German News - English Edition Tu, 05.11.1996 ] ]

In Berlin, on August 17, 2007 a German court ruled that she will not be released on parole [ [http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3492077 ABC News, August 17, 2007] ] . In 2008 federal president Köhler denied her clemency request [ [http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3520492,00.html DW-World, 29.07.2008] ] .

References