Petra Krause (born February 19, 1939, in Berlin[1]) is a German-Italian former terrorist who in the 1970s, with her gang, supplied weapons to groups including the Red Army Fraction (RAF) in Germany and the Red Brigades in Italy.

In 1975 she was arrested in Zurich on suspicion of smuggling explosives and arms for various terrorist groups throughout half of Europe. She was defended by attorney Bernard Rambert of the "Legal Advice Collective" (Rechtsauskunft Anwaltskollektiv)[2] and in 1977 extradited to Italy, where she was released after a few days. In 1981, she was sentenced in absentia by the Court of Appeals of the Canton of Zürich.[3][4][5]

The proceedings against Krause in Switzerland took place against the background of the events of the German Autumn, and also led to controversy over the conditions of her detention.[6] This was also the time of leftist terrorism in Switzerland.[7][8]

Krause was friends with the German politician and DDR agent Brigitte Heinrich. In Zurich she had worked for a short time with the bookseller Theo Pinkus.

References edit

  1. ^ Documents from and on Krause, Petra in the Dodis database of the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland
  2. ^ Scherrer, Lucien (Apr 4, 2015). "Der rote Beni und die Terroristen". Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  3. ^ Gyr, Marcel (Sep 15, 2017). "Die Terroristin, die der Schweiz Folter". Neue Zürcher Zeitung. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  4. ^ Tobler, Andreas (Sep 15, 2017). "Eine Frau narrt die Schweiz". Tages Anzeiger. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  5. ^ Steiger, Martin (May 17, 2018). "Urteil gegen Terroristin Petra Krause vom 9. März 1981". Steiger Legal. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  6. ^ Hafner, Urs. "Die Terroristin, die zum Opfer wurde". Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  7. ^ ""Schweizer RAF": Halbstarke Männer, missglückte Bombenanschläge". Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen. Retrieved June 6, 2018.
  8. ^ ""Deutscher Herbst" in der Schweiz". Diplomatische Dokumente der Schweiz. Retrieved June 6, 2017.