German militants’ lawyer and Greens gadfly dies at 83

BERLIN (AP) — German lawyer Hans-Christian Stroebele has died at age 83. He defended members of the far-left Red Army Faction and later became the Green party’s first directly elected constituency lawmaker. His attorney said Wednesday that Stroebele died on Aug. 29 after a long illness. Stroebele first rose to prominence in 1970 as one of three lawyers acting for members of the RAF. The militant group carried out numerous politically motivated attacks whose targets included U.S. troops in Germany. Stroebele helped found the Berlin section of the Greens. He remained a left-wing gadly even as the party moved to the center. Chancellor Olaf Scholz paid tribute to Stroebele saying he was a “pugnacious politician who helped shape the political debate for decades.”