Police wanted poster showing RAF terrorists Christian Klar (L) and Brigitte Mohnhaupt.
Brigitte Mohnhaupt, 57, was a senior member of the 1970s communist urban guerrilla group Red Army Faction. She has spent more than 24 years in jail for her part in the murders of three top members of Germany's establishment -- a banker, a top prosecutor, and the president of West Germany's employers' federation.
The federal prosecutor's office backed her appeal for release after a psychological report concluded that she no longer poses a danger to society. The senior district court in Stuttgart, southwestern Germany, is due to decide on the request in early February.
Meanwhile German President Horst Köhler is due to review an appeal for parole made by RAF terrorist Christian Klar, who has also served 24 years for the murders.
German newspapers asked Tuesday if the country was showing too much mercy for a woman who shows no remorse.
Left-wing Berliner Zeitung writes: "The gesture reveals a readiness for reconciliation that highlights the self-confidence of the liberal judicial state.
"The RAF no longer exists. The bloody chapter of German history it co-wrote isn't forgotten, but it's closed. If the state now extends its hand to Brigitte Mohnhaupt and Christian Klar, it's not doing so to former terrorists, but to survivors. That's the way it should be -- Germany has abolished the death penalty."
Conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: "The Federal Constitutional Court has ruled that every convicted person must have the chance to regain his or her freedom. That is a worthy stance for a constitutional state. The guilt of the RAF murderers was extreme but they now seem to be regarded as having paid for it.
If that is the case, the state can only keep the people who wanted to overthrow it in jail if they continue to pose a danger. That may no longer be the case. But an uneasy feeling remains. Where is the former terrorists' credible 'signal of reconciliation' towards the relatives of their victims? Who speaks for them?"
Left-leaning Berlin daily Tagesspiegel writes: "With all respect for the feelings of the victims' relatives, one of the greatest achievements of the constitutional state is that it positions itself between the perpetrators and the victims. It is not its duty to mourn, and it must not be motivated by revenge."
Business daily Financial Times Deutschland writes: "The only issue with Mohnhaupt and Klar is whether the criteria for their release have been fulfilled. Both have been in prison for a very long time. One can probably rule out that they will be repeat offenders. But there have not been any credible admissions of guilt or remorse.
"An act of mercy wouldn't make political criticism of the RAF' madness superfluous. On the contrary, it would be more necessary than ever."
David Crossland, 15:30 CET
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