Christian Klar

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Christian Klar (born May 20, 1952 in Freiburg) was a leading member of the second generation of the German terrorist group Red Army Faction (RAF). A warrant of arrest was issued in 1979 and he was arrested close to Hamburg on 16 November 1982 where he maintained an illegal arms depot. In the following trials he was convicted for his involvement in the murders of Siegfried Buback, Jürgen Ponto and Hanns-Martin Schleyer together with fellow RAF member Brigitte Mohnhaupt. He has been in prison since his arrest as his sentence was six times life imprisonment plus 15 years.

In early 2007 he filed a petition for pardon, to be decided by German Bundespräsident Horst Köhler. On May 7, 2007 it was decided to deny the petition. He will be eligible for parole by 2009 as a life sentence in Germany does not mean necessarily life-long imprisonment.