Peter Krauth, 65, and Thomas Walter, 62, each received a two-year suspended sentence for their role in a plot to blow up a detention centre in Berlin in 1995, the court of appeal in Berlin said in a statement.

The two men were part of a trio of left-wing militants known as "The Committee", along with a third member who is no longer alive.

They were found guilty of "planning an attack with explosives in April 1995 on a deportation centre under construction" in Berlin's Gruenau district, according to the court.

"By carrying out the attack, they had wanted to prevent the deportation of people of Kurdish origin (to Turkey)," the court said.

The attack was foiled because police spotted the three men loading propane gas bottles into a van, prompting them to flee Germany and go into hiding for years.

Krauth and Walter had most recently been living in Venezuela, where they were granted asylum in 2021, according to German media reports.

Krauth had reportedly been working as a farmer in the Merida region, while Walter had worked on a cocoa plantation and in a print shop, among other things.

The third member of the trio, Bernhard Heidbreder, died in 2021.

Krauth and Walter had reached an agreement with German authorities in February to allow them to return to Germany without having to go to jail if they were prepared to make a confession.

Although the statute of limitations is normally 20 years in Germany, the court in Berlin said it had not expired because it had been interrupted several times.