you know the 1st study but it does the same thing. it does there were met in felt that he was being targeted by the new s.p.d. government. chief of staff. proposed a series of b.m.d. reforms but at the same time he refused to hand over files to prosecutors who were investigating methods him to said that to do so would be detrimental to the interests of the government. in november 1975 met in stood trial in bonn on charges of violating west german export laws particularly in connection with weapon sales to india pakistan and saudi arabia. matins is seen here on the right along with some of his merits co-defendants no charges were filed against anyone from the b.m.d. in november 1905 the court ruling from this mobile phone for mertens was acquitted on the charge of violating export laws his attorneys convinced the court that the

weapons sales have been made on behalf of the b n d that was bad news for the agency that. we visited the north rhine-westphalia state archive and to a sport where a copy of the verdict is stored. unlike the regional court in bonn it considered it important to keep it. we weren't allowed to take pictures of the actual documents just the covers of the files but we were permitted to quote from the documents matins was acquitted because the weapons exports were approved by the b.m.d. and he was convinced they were legal because. the b.m.d. received requests from individual states and enabled contractual agreements. to b.m.d. took steps to provide financing options for merrick's eiji. the be a nice warm marriage representatives to secrecy. had to be in deep employer. it

its own foreign policy agenda was it a state within a state a so-called deep state. used to refer sums up his findings. is trying to honor the go cart there was a very bureaucratic organization that operated but a great deal of vanity and weakness in highly complex circumstances and that is what the weapons deals were probably known to just a small group within the b.m.d. so i don't think it was a deep state system as such but it had some of its characteristics i was into martyr stuff. mehrtens weapons deals made him a very wealthy man. he sold 90 old west german fighter planes to pakistan as well as automatic weapons ammunition and hand grenades to chad as that country descended into civil war in the mid 1960 s.

. after met and was acquitted the west german government was ordered to pay him $5000000.00 marks in compensation an expensive end to a close business relationship between arms dealer and intelligence agency that's mothership be in the order for the b. and d. bears the final responsibility because the merton's deal got out of control and if he was actually conducting foreign policy by selling weapons to various countries indeed the b.m.d. probably underestimated americans completely. just. mehrtens wife and daughter gave us the impression that they knew little about the full extent of his business dealings he didn't talk much about them and he was away from home much of the time . but my guitar has come to terms with the fact that her father was a weapons dealer. brings it would you like to know more.

it doesn't really matter. you know what's done is done you have to get on with your life. matins worked for the cia and the u.s. he allegedly supplied weapons to anti communist guerrillas in central america on its behalf. and he maintained unofficial connections to the b.n. deep. the nightmare 1900 was he was excluded from the operational side of the agency's activities. but in the 1970 s. the b.m.d. used him and his contacts to find out more about the international arms trade for that so he continued as an informer and was never completely locked out of it. historian dealer has found evidence that linked militants to the infamous colonia dignidad settlement in chile which was a step list by german immigrants. it appears be india

official sent mehrtens into the settlement. sheila found evidence that merchants had close ties to pinochet security apparatus. a map in southern africa merton's repeatedly stated that he traveled to chile on behalf of the b. and d. . he met manual control as it was later head of pinochet's secret police and officials of colonia dignidad including hotlips hop it appears they stopped as close ties and. as for. this video was made in the 1980 s. it shows the main road that led to the settlement. here is the main entrance. the sign over the gate says in effect or a dignified or benefactor of dignity. met installed state prosecutors in 1909

that he had visited the settlement several times on behalf of the b. and d. he called the. state prosecutors in a bid to help its leader paul shaffer when he was under investigation for crimes including physical injury and deprivation of liberty. in a statement merchants praised the settlement as a model german community he denied reports that people had been physically abused in a room known as the potato seller. matins testimony runs to $31.00 pages and sheila has a copy of it. sums up the statement. it's described in detail his visits to colonia dignidad and he attempted to refute a number of allegations point by point. for example he said that he'd seen no

evidence that people had been tortured there and he saw no underground corridors we also spoke with a doctor at the settlements hospital he concluded it was impossible torture had taken place there. before. but in fact the potato cellar was used by chile secret police to torture political detainees. we asked did the b. and d. really ask americans to visit the settlement what was his exact mission there the b.m.d. declined to comment. on the merton's says she only knew her husband as a private individual. business ownership figure i just don't have any information on his business deals or

contacts. i'm sorry i really don't. care hard mehrtens a former nazi paratrooper and small business owner who became one of europe's leading weapons dealers died in 1903 at the age of 73 in fort lauderdale florida. he took many of his secrets to the green.

alexander for one more of our series on tomorrow today we want to see what he saw to experience what drove him a journey through latin america following in the footsteps of the great scientist.