Merkel backs president over guerrilla meeting

BERLIN, May 6 (Reuters) German Chancellor Angela Merkel called today for an end to attacks on the country's president, who will decide this week whether to grant clemency to a former Red Army Faction guerrilla after 24 years in prison.

High-ranking members of Merkel's conservatives sharply criticised German President Horst Koehler this weekend for meeting with Christian Klar, who was convicted in 1982 for his role a series of RAF killings.

''Respect for the office and person of the president must always be protected,'' Merkel said in a statement. ''I ask that we all, regardless of how the president decides in the end, respect the decision of Horst Koehler.'' A spokesman for Koehler said yesterday he would announce his decision this week. He gave no details about Koehler's meeting with Klar.

''(There is) no doubt that the president will handle this difficult and controversial issue after careful examination in a very conscientious way,'' Merkel said.

Some conservatives have suggested that Koehler should not be re-elected when his term ends in 2009 if he decides to set Klar free. Germany's president is elected by parliament and delegates from Germany's sixteen states.

German media have been gripped by the former leftist militant's fate for months, questioning whether the country is ready to draw a line under the bloody RAF campaign of killings and kidnappings that shook it to the core.

The leftist RAF, also known as the ''Baader-Meinhof Gang'' after founders Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, is suspected of killing 34 people including several well-known establishment figures, between 1970 and 1991.

Those who oppose clemency for Klar, who will be eligible for parole in 2009, say he has never expressed remorse.

Conservatives say the German public opposes Klar's early release. But it is rare for criminals to spend more than 20 years in prison in Germany and some Germans feel the 54-year-old Klar has paid his debt to society.

REUTERS SM RK2350