Gerhard Merz (mercenary)
Gerhard Eugen Merz (* 1947 in Frankfurt am Main ; † March 17, 2004 in Malabo ) was a suspected German - Israeli arms dealer and mercenary who died in a failed coup in Equatorial Guinea .
Life
Merz moved to Israel in his childhood or youth and returned to Germany in 1963. On November 19, 1994, Merz's name appeared together with two business partners in a decree by US President Bill Clinton accusing Merz of supplying chemical weapons to Iran between 1991 and 1993. Americans were banned from doing business with Merz. As the Israeli daily Haaretz found out in 1999, Merz and his business partners probably bought the precursors for chemical weapons in China with the knowledge of the Israeli secret service .
According to the British journalist, when the British mercenary Simon Mann was planning a coup in Equatorial Guinea, he hired Merz to be responsible for air transport. At that time, Merz was employed by the charter company Central Asian Logistics. According to Adams, she provided two planes for the coup. On March 9, 2004, Merz was arrested in Malabo along with an advance squad made up of 14 other mercenaries. Six days later Merz died in Black Beach prison. According to other inmates, he was beaten to death or suffered a heart attack as a result of the beatings. The managing director of the charter company insisted on the Frankfurter Rundschau that his colleague Gerhard Merz was innocent in the wave of arrests after the attempted coup.
Years after his death, on November 7, 2011, the US State Department lifted the sanctions against Gerhard Merz.´
literature
- James Brabazon: My Friend The Mercenary , Canongate Books, 2011, ISBN 978-1-84767-441-8
- Adam Roberts: The Wonga Coup: Simon Mann's Plot to Seize Oil Billions in Africa , Profile Books, 2009, ISBN 978-1-84668-234-6
Web links
- Report of the UN General Assembly's Human Rights Council on the attempted coup , accessed January 25, 2014
- Analysis of the attempted coup by The Independent daily , accessed on January 25, 2014
- Frankfurter Rundschau interview on the death of Gerhard Merz , accessed on January 25, 2014
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PPP-1995-book1/html/PPP-1995-book1-doc-pg705.htm
- ↑ http://www.state.gov/t/isn/c15236.htm
- ↑ http://www.haaretz.com/death-of-a-mercenary-1.155988
- ^ Adam Roberts: The Wonga Coup: Simon Mann's Plot to Seize Oil Billions in Africa , Profile Books, 2009, ISBN 978-1-84668-234-6
- ↑ http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/18session/A-HRC-18-32-Add2_en.pdf
- ↑ https://www.fr.de/politik/wurde-gefoltert-11568637.html
- ↑ https://www.fr.de/politik/unternehmen-staatsstreich-11586378.html
- ↑ http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/194098.pdf
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Merz, Gerhard |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Merz, Gerhard Eugen |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German-Israeli arms smuggler and mercenary |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1947 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Frankfurt am Main |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 17, 2004 |
| Place of death | Malabo |