day night the atmosphere that usually accompanies a champion think final will be missing from the streets of lisbon. beers are waiting for me in the fridge that's used for it's course fun and done your barcelona in lisbon that's your news update at this hour coming up after a short break out documentary film dock film this week at lethal exports for the arms industry in the spotlight don't forget you can get all the latest on our website that's d w dot com i'm michael okuda here in berlin for all of the team thanks for watching we have more news for you at the top of the hour. beyond. all of the stories that matter to. her. whatever it takes. to running. to get in touch with you know the help you made for mines.

oh. i was told wanted to be a teacher. he was studying at the scene up a teacher training college in the mexican state of get a little. but one bullet changed everything. this footage shows the fateful moment. i'll go and around 50 other students had commandeered public buses to get back to the college after a demonstration such actions aren't unusual in parts of mexico. suddenly police stopped the bus and then opened fire on the armed students hit by a bullet although fell to the ground. 6 students were shot dead 2 more were seriously wounded. 43 students all each between 18 and 23 were

abducted they've never been seen since just like thousands of others in mexico. a number of police officers were subsequently arrested accused of carrying out the murders a number of the weapons used in those crimes were german military grade g 36 assault rifles made by a heckler and koch. but the german government hadn't approved their export to this region so how did they get there. a court in the city of took up the case the almost year long trial was germany's most detailed investigation of an arms deal to date. the verdict surprised many. in the case was initially brought so you can question a prominent opponent of germany's arms industry the manager simply walked away free

that's the big scandals improve far too close judicial system so where the managers of heckler and koch not responsible for the illegal weapons deal in the up. and you know the court. dockets i'm going to have the conviction in this chamber that there was insufficient evidence to suggest the other defendants took part in the crimes i didn't. think that. were. so what actually happened it all began in 2005 german arms manufacturer heckler and koch wanted to export thousands of g $36.00 assault rifles to mexico along with submachine guns so the company submitted an application to the german economics ministry in berlin but the foreign ministry expressed concern citing human rights violations by mexican security forces including abductions and murder and get a handle and other states. the

economics ministry sought a compromise. meanwhile a heckler and koch was waiting impatiently for permission to export as the company's then sales representative from mexico explains. we can only identify him as marcus b. . and then come to be deformed over here with and asked by sounds whether we could change the designated and use a difficult because some ministry had requested that certain aspects shouldn't be mentioned and. techno and call had originally presented this and you certificate from the mexican defense ministry to the german economics ministry . the details of the certificate showed clearly that the weapons were partly intended for mexican states considered particularly dangerous. you may occasionally play for him so i wrote an email to my wife from the computer. i had.

to ask the head of de camp the official body responsible for arms sales in mexico whether it was possible not to name these 3 states and to issue a new and use so once the economics ministry had informed heckler and koch which mexican states would not be approved the company submitted a new end you certificate where the critical states were no longer mentioned but the strange thing was the exact same number of guns would still be supplied to mexico which surely should have been noticed. but approval for the export was given and the deal began. over the following years a team from heckler and koch travelled all over mexico showing police officers in the army how to use the firearms. here they aren't colima but they also went to the states that were supposedly banned including get a table where the weapons would soon be used.

on the 19 year old. for example. this was him dancing at his brother's wedding just days before security forces would destroy his life forever. don't tell me he was a clever child really bright he was always keen to see everything and to learn that's why he went to college now last call. details of that night haunt the family. brother lay on their tells us what happened . i do know a number of pastors who was in the 1st one was when the attack started they were already heading back to the college in was the 1st the police started pursuing them

then a police vehicle and along absolute junction i had to stop them leaving the city. in this about the yeah so the students got out of the box i'll know it was one of the 1st to get out he wanted to talk to the police who were blocking the road in the hope that they could proceed or not the police immediately started shooting but i have. the other students got off the buses and started filming with their cell phones when i was hit by a bullet the other screamed for help. they called an ambulance for their friend while running for cover themselves more shots fell. that same night all those family rushed to the hospital in one but. i saw him and he had a bullet wound to his head the bullet went in here and came out here. drug cartels kill thousands in mexico every year but the security forces are also responsible for many deaths. one of the heckler and koch instructors

started to have doubts. in 2010 he testified to state prosecutors against his former employer heckler and koch. it was a damning indictment of colleagues and managers. that led to 2 police raids on the company premises and a mammoth investigation. or and loses it opens 8 long years from the start of the investigation to the trial my opening in my 2080 or so i think the world. in 2018 the largest trial of its kind in german post-war history finally got underway. trial observers took detailed minutes. yarn fun aachen was one of them. he was previously a weapons inspector for the united nations and

a member of the german parliament. i remember 3 things from the 1st day firstly the charges were read out which included conspiring to commit crimes the 2nd was that the 2 main suspects were not in the room which one has since died but the other was half of the cooks mexico representative who lives in mexico and was allegedly not well enough to travel. so his trial was separated off. with. the defendants included ex c.e.o. peter biola and another former heckler and koch c.e.o. . to pass employees from the marketing division. the company heckler and koch itself as a codefendant and a secretary from the export department and the 3rd thing i remember was the initial statements given by the accused where it was totally clear they had no sense of guilt and i think they were really serious about that. the argument was they had

received approval for exports to mexico and it was so they export it to mexico they couldn't work out why they were in court that. in the end you certificate is the centerpiece of germany's arms control mechanism in this document the buyer declares where the weapons will be delivered and where they will be used ruling out that they will end up anywhere else several different ministries examine the application under the direction of the economics ministry. the government's export control office boffa then takes care of the licensing procedure. noida bought it off was president obama for 10 years. he's well acquainted with the procedures and knows those who worked in the economics ministry during the period in question. it they thought of the head that i'd call a good as the in the head and cock case the colleague involved at the economics ministry was not someone who exercised any particularly critical judgment in that

regard. shall we say to the point of. that official who was in a senior position in the economics ministry was one of the 1st witnesses to be called his testimony got off to an uncomfortable start. that's why you look if the art form for the witness was asked by the presiding judge to disclose what the mexico deal was on about he answered one moment and put a huge briefcase on the table guns he pulled out an entire file therefore there was mounted in the the judge asked him what he was doing he said i need to find on the investigation to get the indictment they're going to start some knowledge of they're going to you can see the faces of the state prosecutors turning red because that's not a lot of it is and he does i so the witness in a german criminal court case he's holding the indictment in his hands the antler usually fit in. but that wasn't the end of it during questioning the witness

revealed that the other ministries also had access to the confidential files. but where they came from that bit he could remember is that the u.n. he actually stated in court we call the ministry for the economy we have a special interest in ensuring that these manufacturers can survive economically that's from the man responsible for regulating urns exports for. for decades heckler and koch has been a key supplier to the german armed forces and the police it's considered to have systemic relevance. so does the economics ministry give special treatment to a company like that. we decided to ask a former economics minister is it my god we're. going to give vishal began his statement by saying we are the ministry for the economy is the and so the ministry wants this key manufacture to survive. yeah that's true but the export

guidelines state that when it comes to arms exports are economic considerations and jobs are not to play around with the kind of what's the legal position and i hope the court is familiar with the export of hi clients. back to the courtroom under further questioning by the presiding judge the official from the economics minister stated from the witness stand that human rights were more a work of endeavor in the us to mention these are the people charged with safeguarding our highest value namely human rights in all constitutions in our constitution and they see it merely as a work of endeavor so if it happens to suit then we'll include that in it but otherwise we're not interested in the. human rights as a work of endeavor. that's not with the approval guidelines set up by the government state. actually they aren't glued with descendants but this

question the human rights situation in the recipient country plays a prominent role of the really also coming from a legal background it's clear that it's an absolute test criterion and a deal breaking criteria is less clear to you. and indeed the official from the economics ministry admitted himself while testifying to the customs investigation bureau that he realized the firearms had only been excluded from parts of mexico on paper. but the economics minister denies any wrongdoing. the ministry's main contact at heckling cost was paid for by a lawyer he was in the darkest regard but he was acquitted. well day 2 of the trial peter buyer list stated that these and you certificates are and i quote the wrong instruments owned ineffective me give our gift. this supposedly wrong instrument has for decades been the basis for all of germany's arms exports.

peter by other had been the head judge of the district court before moving to heckler and koch initially he was the company's liaison officer for the authorities and then later c.e.o. throughout he was responsible for export applications and end use agreements. the export control office buffa also understands that the end use agreement is a binding document he'd fight snuff they for shooting 2 are often standing of the law and use it difficult is an integrity part of the licensing. yet veteran legal expert peter buying up argued in court that and you certificates are not decisive for arms exports and he claimed to know nothing of the reworked certificate from mexico but his correspondence with a chummy official at the economics ministry tells a different story. as i was aware of this e-mail before it's completely clear here the economics ministry is telling heckler and koch you can't

export to these mexican states but these other ones are ok and yet in the trial all those involved maintained repeatedly that there had never been a list of positive and negative states it's absurd that this is only turned up now . but that's not all. when the approval of arms exports to mexico did not appear forthcoming by a lot email colleagues suggesting they pursued what he called the political route. the company made donations to the constituency offices of influential politicians. we tried to speak to peter by a lawyer to with the emerge from the court one day. and his lawyer due to push creedon felt blocked our cameramen pulling out the sound cable. peter biola began brandishing his briefcase and his lawyer continued to attempt to

obstruct us. mr buyer what do you know about the party donations about heckler and koch. they were clearly not willing to talk about donations to politicians. in mexico meanwhile the families of the 43 missing students are still searching for the bodies of their loved ones. more than 60000 people are classified as missing in mexico presumed dead. and the appearance of the stones help us to locate graves. you can see these stones were previously underground. so we know the ground has been dug over here you see the difference in the color the stone was on the surface the other one was buried deeper. the remains of clothing are scattered across the site

a putrid smell hangs in the air. that i love when i still hope that my son will walk through the door one day. one of the pain is unbearable. it just hurts so much. but i'm not giving up not until i found my son you are then every time i come up to these hills even though i'm sick i still forget my illness because i want to find out something about my son. mexico has never forgotten the missing student teachers. for more than 5 years thousands of people have been taking to the streets every month to demand answers. they include families and friends of the $43.00 students who disappeared. human rights lawyer sophia there will be no represents the family's i'm an attorney of the miguel gusen for a lot of human rights center and her india company i was not

a case for 4 years we represent relatives of the 43 students who disappeared on the 26th of september 2040 as well as the students who were executed and also those who were injured that night. tennyson lama is one of my clients i will be honest i'm not. even travelling in the crisis 20 state of get red always dangerous the lawyer takes us to all those family. civilian militia groups have taken control of the roads and levy so-called customs duties. were at the mercy of the local commanders . one of them. when they spot our camera things get a bit edgy. that. get

red always been scarred by the drug war by violence and corruption. the good to get us family is taken care of although in this house built with donations. which we have suffered a lot as a family because we have to struggle with everything. ultimately we wish for nothing more than to see this it all of the little lively guy again who have lost and went on. this. the family still clings to the hope that i'll double get well again

even if this is medically impossible. well you could check if you tell me this most of all. he listens closely. sometimes he opens his eyes we're talk to him and then he closes 100 here. we take a paratha view of the i am with all that every day we come here and we take care of him. all day and all night we take care of him and yes if you can hear now and he responds to. does he respond to you yes generally just yesterday he moved his finger there though he was a lawyer he still moves. the

hopes of a mother. the hopes of a family. of old girl we are hearing looks that i am of which we miss him very much. the whole family loves him so much. is that the man is all those that's why it's so hard for us to see the change that he's undergone. i won't abandon you on the will i be with you no matter what us is us. meanwhile the trial in stuttgart was continuing. evidence was presented in the court called dozens of witnesses. then on the 20th day something completely unexpected happened and suddenly the number was clear 15000 e-mails had slipped through that created a bit of

a shock up there in the bench they realized they suddenly had a lot of documents here that hadn't been included in the proceedings at all. an investigation was launched into the missing e-mails where were they then the name of an auditing company came up k p m g. then it turned out the customs criminal investigation office leading the investigation had received the e-mails that the documents for k.p. and g. but they had already been filtered and sorted. heckler and koch called in k p m g shortly after police searched headquarters. part of their task was to evaluate the stats electronic communications marcos being with the company sales representative in mexico. or in car had asked kate p.m.g. to carry out an internal voluntary investigation. comprehensible which is why it's enough for the prosecutor to investigate the police and so on. k p m g as one of

the world's 4 largest auditing companies. the internal investigation was supposed to support the customs criminal investigation office and rittenberg state criminal police office and the public prosecutor's office. voice still represents mark wispy and is critical of the fact that the state investigators had agreed to cooperate with the private auditors. the system long the one hand it is not justifiable and in my view not acceptable that the public prosecutor's office should agree that heckler and koch of all companies which is the target of the accusations should be given the opportunity to become involved in the investigations by commissioning an internal expert report that it may take a p.m.g. a lot of money to produce. why did the authorities agree to cooperate with k p m g in the 1st place how close was that cooperation. with the k p m g report confirms

the cooperation with the police customs investigators and the prosecutor's office. the customs investigators say they exchanged information with k. p.m.g. for 3 years. this is the reason i believe that we also have these so-called pawns in the dark we do not have the people actually responsible for the whole story for initiating it and i don't like those people are probably more likely to be found in departments of the federal ministry of economics the people at the top of eglinton call. of the federal ministry mr. mcveigh the k. p. and g. investigation said there were significant irregularities in the stories of the secretary of marketing employee and the representative in mexico and said they were primarily responsible for the crooked arms deals there. what the auditors also overlooked with the purchase contracts with mexico on which

the deals had been based. heckler and koch and the mexican ministry of defense exchanged dozens of purchased contracts. we have these original contracts. they explain. list the destinations of the weapons. including the banned mexican states such as get federal. unlike the end you certificate the company provided the government. the court in strict guard has refused to comment on the proceedings of the ruling. an answer to a written request the chicago public prosecutor's office said the cooperation with k p m g had been helpful. but it also points out that key p.m.g. findings had also been compared with the information gathered by the office and critically assessed.

k p m g had also been advising the defense ministry which was looking for a successor model to the german armed forces standard assault rifle. one call was the favorite to win the tender. we best k p m g but the company has refused to make any comment. in september 2018 accompanied by his lawyers brother leo and travel district got for the trial. the court had already rejected the family's request to appear as a joint plaintiff in the criminal proceedings. in the court's opinion the allegedly go deliveries did not contribute to the concrete acts of injury in question. in the courtroom they are now took 2 photos of his brother out of his backpack

because as he later said aldo could not attend the trial themselves. the court reacted swiftly. 9 court officers arrived at the guest from mexico until he gave them the pictures of his brother although. you know it was all about equipment up there it was all about files and stuff no one ever talked about the victims and i think it's important in this whole discussion about arms exports not only in the trial to meet. clear from time to time and this is about if this is about blood this is about war and not just about sewing machines and refrigerators and that is why this is a very very special moment for me only when living there left the courthouse to get the pictures of his brother back.

it was the end of leona's visit to germany. in february 2019 the court gave its verdict. the secretary received a 17 month suspended sentence and had to perform 250 hours of community service. a former marketing employee was sentenced to 22 months on probation and had to pay an $80000.00 euro find a social organizations. heckler and koch was fined 3700000 euros approximately the contract value of the illegally exported weapons. the other defendants including the 2 former c.e.o.'s were acquitted. both heckler and koch and peta biota have refused to give any interviews but deny any wrongdoing.

the public prosecutor's office decided not to appeal against the acquittal of byelaw and the other ex c.e.o. while appealing the other rulings we are convinced said the presiding judge in its oral verdict that neither and you certificate as such nor the actual end use can be made a part of the permit in terms of administrative law but the former head of buffa the government's export control office doesn't agree. administratively law is quite clear that i om part of it. if i may put it cautiously criminal lawyers who do not deal with these things so often may see things differently. and that was probably settled in the contravening and she'd been fired. 2 months after the stuttgart ruling a court in kiel came to a different conclusion than the court in southern germany at the trial of the german arms manufacturers exhaust for illegal arms exports and you certificates

were judged to be part of the export licenses. zig-zag had sold $37000.00 pistols to colombia although the end you certificate said they were destined for the usa. next managers of zigzags were germany and the c.e.o. of its us affiliate were given fines and suspended sentences. this case is also under appeal. now germany supreme court must decide whether to deal with the 2 rulings or not. filming in mexico city in june 21000 make a surprising discovery. the soldiers who raise the national flag in front of the presidential palace every day carry weapons from all over the world including many from heckler and koch. but a cameraman notices that the soldiers are also carrying weapons from another german company as exultant.

zigzag is the country's 2nd largest manufacturer of small arms and is based not far from kiel in northern germany. its product range includes pistols submachine guns and assault rifles. made in germany says the company's website probably. was exactly licensed to export arms to mexico we asked the government which that know. so how did zigzag always weapons end up in mexico. the mexican defense ministry confirmed that zigzag usa sells pistols submachine guns and assault rifles to mexico with the permission of the us government. the court in kiel has already found the c.e.o. of zigs our usa incorporated guilty of making illegal arms deliveries to colombia be the us. the affiliate is 100 percent owned by its german parent company nuka and my holding. under american law zigzag usa can sell weapons manufactured in the us

abroad. but can weapons made in germany be exported to mexico via the us affiliate is this permitted. 20 gun out of one and they were intended to be to live in towns where the german manufactures would have to say in the reputation that the final destination is not the recipient country of millions he's based but someone else. it. is. nevertheless there are as example weapons in mexico. it must have been by different route one without i'm at any rate. this internet video of a mexican police officer shows a zigzag p 229 pistol. the policeman says it's odd that his

gun has to engravings on it. for a made in germany. and exeter new hampshire. but how did this gun get into mexico. human rights activist john lindsay poland investigates arms exports from the usa to latin america and has published numerous studies on the subject. the dated that shows that germany exported firearms of firearm parts during this period to new hampshire and that new hampshire exported firearms and firearms ports to mexico. example i haven't disclosed how many weapons they deliver and to where. but figures from the us department of commerce show how many weapons have been delivered from germany to new hampshire and from new hampshire to mexico since 2000. a document issued by the

us department of state makes clear the extent to which the exultant usa supplies mexico with weapons. on that list was a license for 6 hours to export up to $266000000.00 worth of firearms to mexico. up to 2024 which is an enormous amount of weaponry it's unprecedented for mexico and for the united states in terms of any exports to mexico. the mexican defense ministry has confirmed the weapons supplied by exalting usa are distributed almost right across the country including those states that the german government classifies as having a particularly critical human rights situation. mexico distributed these weapons to states where police are at heavy collusion with organized crime and committing human rights violations raises many questions about the legality not to mention the the morality of 6 hours role in the violence in mexico both through the united

states and from its german parent. basically zigs always should. not have been allowed to supply mexico from germany at all. so it's all the more surprising that zigzag usas turnover suddenly went through the roof shortly after arrival hector and call was banned from selling weapons to mexico because of the investigations back home. the mexican ministry of defense records for aluminum. so is exhaust circumventing germany's arms export laws with the help of its u.s. affiliates and procedural terms at least there would seem to be a certain similarity to the case relating to illegal exports to colombia. zigs hour has not responded to our repeated requests for comment. the former heckler and koch weapons demonstrator also provided the tipoff for this trial. in the meantime he'd moved to competitors example. the colombian government has confirmed the receipt of

around 120000 zigzag pistols 3 times more than the number cited in the q hearing. this was not approved by the german government. it is not approved any permits for small arms exports to colombia since the year 2000. so how did the $72000.00 weapons that the keel court knew nothing about end up in colombia. to find out we decided to go to bogota the capital of a country blighted by decades of civil war. and the peace here is deceptive. the city has seemed months of mass protests and frequent riots the army and above all the police. have been accused of serious human rights violations.

we saw policeman carrying 6 l. of pistols everywhere in fact none of the officers we met on this trip carried anything else. we visited the museum of the policy and thus are not an organization still here today for its involvement in human rights violations. the guard at the entrance was also armed with his exult pistol. the policeman showed us his example of s p 2022 in the weapons display. so as exhaust is the standard weapon of the colombian police and we see this war is trying we all have them they're the best. then he asked a colleague for

a service weapon and showed us the engraving on the s.p. 2022 frame made in germany enjoyment again it's this weapon should not be in colombia we also noticed that serial number is missing. this is a so-called ghost gun and they shouldn't exist at all. next stop. for many years the murder capital of the world. an hour's drive outside of mid-air gene we visited a retreat for the rich and powerful the ruins of pablo escobar house are a minder of the cocaine trade that is still flourishing today. in fact some say it still remains the backbone of the colombian economy. pretending to be german tourists we got chatting with police officers. we asked one of them to pose for a selfie. then he showed us his gun you can see it's another's exult s p 2022

and this time we could clearly see a serial number the german eagle and an official proof mark from the responsible office in kiel. it's a very mature gave. you the death knell for example here on the gun you can see exeter new hampshire you know. but here there are marks from kiel. to the federal eagle with the end on it and. some of the original stamps indicate that the thing is from germany. you know. is this pistol even allowed to be in colombia. then delete the if the hardware comes from germany as you know pictures imply that he's clearly on violation. of. the serial number of this weapon is not listed in the keel court papers. does that mean that the true extent of the legal operations is much greater than previously realized. documents from the u.s.

department of commerce prove. continue to deliver weapons to colombia even though germany and the managing directors of its u.s. affiliate have been under investigation for illegal arms exports to the country 14 some 10000. even after the april $21000.00. as and he does he see if they know it and can prove it then i think that is a reason to pass it on to the legal authorities. of mexico new documents from the u.s. state department prove that is exactly usa not only delivers finished weapons to mexico the us permit also includes a license to manufacture various example models in mexico including these ones some of which were originally developed and produced in germany. is that allowed. the german government has confirmed that zigzagged germany has been granted

a total of $26.00 permits for the transfer of technology to zigzag usa since 2000. but german law requires a further license before the technology can be transferred on to mexico. then when a production license is approved it's approved for one location in this case the us where the production actually takes place and not frank's port would have to approve any further exports again. the government has confirmed that no such authorization exists. the whole for the $500.00 people behind such things are held accountable to any rate would be the job of the relevant authorities who as i have said will once more have to consider whether to refer it to law enforcement authorities. is the zigzag arms manufacturing group circumventing german export regulations by relocating its business to the usa and getting away with it scot free. if it is all illegal arms deals will probably soon

be carried out this way. it certainly seems to be working for his example which has now become the largest exporter of small arms in the united states. california for. the fight against illegal logging in ghana lumber and exotic woods are among the country's most important exports but illegal logging is threatening the tree population and now an app is helping to curb the ruthless exploitation and to give sustainable forestry

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