Meinhof gang killer is released

Brigitte Mohnhaupt, 57,was released from the Aichach prison in Germany on Sunday, a prison official said.

Last month a German court ruled that Mohnhaupt qualified for early release after serving a minimum proportion of her five life sentences.

The group was also known as the Red Army Faction.

The prospect of Mohnhaupt's release sparked a fierce debate in Germany.

Mohnhaupt was convicted of involvement in nine murders. Victims included a judge, a banker and the employers' federation president.

BAADER-MEINHOF

• Urban guerrilla group notorious in 1970s and 80s
• Also known as the Red Army Faction
• Targeted West German capitalist establishment

Who were Baader-Meinhof?

Terror release divides Germany

The BBC's Steve Rosenberg, in Berlin, says she was once described as the most evil and dangerous woman in West Germany.

Separately, another prominent Red Army prisoner, Christian Klar, is seeking early release.

He has applied to the German president for a pardon.

Our correspondent said the prospect of Mohnhaupt and Klar being freed revived memories of one of the bloodiest episodes in the country's post-war history.

'No remorse'

The Red Army Faction sought to combat what it saw as capitalist oppression of workers and US imperialism.

It was active from about 1970 - having grown out of student anti-Vietnam war protests - until 1992, when it abandoned violence. It formally disbanded in 1998.

One of the group's most prominent targets was the German industrialist Hans Martin Schleyer - who was kidnapped in September 1977 and shot six weeks later.

Speaking before the court ruling, Mr Schleyer's son Joerg said members of the group had expressed no remorse for the killing.

"I can't understand that we would take [let] them out because within the last 30 years there's nothing they said - 'OK we're sorry we murdered your father, sorry for that, we murdered policemen, sorry for that.' Absolutely no word."