BERLIN — Horst Mahler, a founding member of the left-wing Purple Military Faction militant group who later grew to become a right-wing extremist and amassed a collection of convictions, together with for Holocaust denial, has died, a lawyer who represented him stated Monday. He was 89.
Mahler died on Sunday at a hospital in Berlin, Jan Dollwetzel, who represented Mahler at a trial in 2023, informed German information company dpa.
Mahler, born on Jan. 23, 1936, grew to become a lawyer and in 1969 defended militants Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin in a trial. Shortly afterward, he went on to discovered the Purple Military Faction with them.
The group, which emerged from German pupil protests in opposition to the Vietnam Warfare, killed 34 individuals and injured lots of of others in a violent marketing campaign in opposition to what members thought of U.S. imperialism and capitalist oppression of employees. It declared itself disbanded in 1998.
In 1970, Mahler was arrested and sentenced to 14 years in jail over numerous financial institution robberies with a far-left motivation. He distanced himself from his extremist previous whereas in custody and was launched after 10 years. In 1987, he was readmitted to apply as a lawyer with the assistance of his then-defense lawyer, Gerhard Schröder, who would later grow to be German chancellor.
Within the Nineteen Nineties, Mahler switched to the alternative political excessive, changing into a member of the far-right Nationwide Democratic Occasion for a number of years. He represented the occasion in 2001 in its case in opposition to an unsuccessful try by authorities to ban it.
Mahler racked up a number of convictions for denying the Holocaust, which earned him sentences totaling 10 years, and whereas in jail wrote a 200-page antisemitic screed that was put on the web by unknown culprits.
In 2017, he fled to Hungary after being ordered to return to jail following a break from serving his sentence attributable to severe sickness. Mahler stated after he was arrested that he had requested asylum, however his declare was not confirmed by authorities. He was extradited to Germany and returned to jail.
Mahler was launched in October 2020 and lived in Kleinmachnow, simply outdoors Berlin. One other trial in opposition to him was shelved in April 2023 for well being causes and by no means resumed.