BERLIN POLICE have arrested a former member of the left-wing Red Army Faction (RAF) terrorist gang in connection with the unsolved murder of Germany’s chief federal prosecutor 32 years ago.
Verena Becker (57) is accused of a “considerable involvement in preparing and carrying out” the shooting of Siegfried Buback, his driver and a court official in April 1977.
While stopped at a traffic light in the southern city of Karlsruhe, a motorcycle pulled up and the pillion passenger shot 15 times through the car windows.
The killing was one of the most spectacular moments of the RAF’s “Offensive 77” campaign of killings, bombings and hostage-takings.
Four gang members were arrested in connection with the killing and three, excluding Becker, were jailed for life.
Becker was arrested a month after the ambush in a dramatic shoot-out – in possession of the gun used to kill Buback.
However, she never went on trial for the that killing and instead was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1977 for other RAF-related crimes.
She was released in 1989.
To this day, none of the gang members involved in the ambush have revealed who drove the motorcycle and who pulled the trigger.
Under pressure from Buback’s family, the case was reopened by German prosecutors last year. They have put evidence through DNA testing not available at the time of the killing. They say tests on a motorcycle glove, helmet and jacket found after the killing have ruled out a direct link to Becker.
But other tests have reportedly revealed her saliva on the letter sent by the RAF on the day of the killing.
Becker’s Berlin apartment was searched last week and police confiscated evidence that opened the way to Thursday’s arrest.
Buback’s son Michael said he was happy to hear of the arrest, but has repeated claims that Becker is his father’s assassin.
“Four independent witnesses talk of seeing a diminutive woman on the back of the motorbike, from where he was shot,” he said.
In the last two years, rumours have surfaced in the German media that Becker collaborated with the police during her time in prison. Several RAF experts have suggested this alleged co-operation with the police would explain why she was never charged in relation to the case.