A picture of Brigitte Mohnhaupt looms over Michael Buback, the son of an RAF victim, during his Sunday television appearance.
Center-left Süddeutsche Zeitung writes: "Despite all the challenges and wretched uncertainties it plunged into 30 years ago, the state remained a state of justice; it didn't become a state of revenge. The decisions to release prisoners from jail, these acts of humanity ordered by the state, show the strength of this state far more impressively than any tightening of laws.
"The 'system of pigs' as the RAF labelled it has proven itself to be generous and merciful. The story of the releases gives us reason to hope that the state will continue to treat terrorists as criminals, not as 'enemies' outside the framework of justice."
Conservative Die Welt writes: "(Conservative) CSU chairman (Edmund) Stoiber is wrong to criticize the decision by insisting that she should have first apologized to the relatives of the victims. The law doesn't require such an act of remorse."
"But one can well understand why Stoiber and many others feel uneasy about this decision, judicially correct though it is. Many former RAF members have been on the endless talk show circuit. And when they speak it's always with a hint of pride. It's an unfortunate fact: the perpetrators still have appeal, the relatives of the victims are rapidly dismissed as a pain in the neck.
"Weeks ago, left-wingers were saying this was about reconciliation. That is nonsense. The justice system can and must release criminals early under certain conditions, as has happened now. No law, no president can force perpetrators to stop boasting indirectly about what they did. Their consciences should require them to."
Left-wing Die Tageszeitung writes: "THE RAF dissolved itself 10 years ago. And yet it seems impossible to look back on it dispassionately. On the contrary: The greater the distance of time, the more heated the debate about it.
"It wasn't a coincidence that the RAF was formed after 1968. And no coincidence that it finally gave up after the epochal break of 1989/1990. The RAF is part of the history of this republic.
"But instead of seeing the RAF in these sober terms it is still being used as a foil for divisions and projections. It constantly has to be led across the stage like a defeated evil monster while the audience expresses its disgust. The RAF won't be treated as part of history until it ceases to be a frightening spectre."
Mass circulation tabloid Bild pointedly reports that the announcement of Mohnhaupt's parole came just a few days after Waltrude Schleyer, the 90-year-old widow of one of her victims, industrialist Hanns-Martin Schleyer, had collapsed and been taken to hospital. Coverage of the imminent release of her husband's murderer had been too much for her, writes Bild.
The newspaper, which like Die Welt is owned by the Springer publishing house and is a firm part of the establishment the RAF had battled, writes in an editorial: "Should the nine-time murderer Brigitte Mohnhaupt be allowed to live like we do? Go shopping? Walking? Or give interviews? Write books about her life as 'Top Terrorist of the RAF'?
"The most senior court in Stuttgart says: Yes! In the name of the people! But we the people find it hard to forgive a woman who has killed so many people. Who has sentenced the sons, wives, parents of her victims to life-long mourning! The justice system says every murderer must get a second chance. Frau Mohnhaupt says … nothing! Nothing to the widows and the orphans left behind by her terror. No letter, no sign of remorse!
"This decision of these judges may be legally correct. But it's not just!"
Business daily Financial Times Deutschland writes that while Mohnhaupt's release was in accordance with the law, the appeal by fellow terrorist Christian Klar for leniency is a different matter because he doesn't come up for parole until 2009. Klar has asked President Horst Köhler to release him early. "Under normal circumstances Klar can't be released until the start of 2009 at the earliest. The early release he has asked for wouldn't be legal routine, it would be a specific act of mercy," writes the paper.
"But that requires the convicted person to show remorse for his deeds and help with the investigation into them. Klar has so far refused to do so. There is no discernible reason for mercy."
Conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: "The state cannot enforce true remorse. But there's no cause for jubilation. The RAF fought this state and its representatives. Every political reaction to the release of Frau Mohnhaupt and of the other terrorists due to follow her soon should voice solidarity with the victims and call for further investigation to shed light on their deeds."
-- David Crossland, 12:00 CET
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