Keltria
12-12-2004, 04:05 AM
I found this on News 24.com :(
German 'tortured to death'
11/12/2004 20:21 - (SA)
Berlin - A German who died in March in Equatorial Guinea's notorious Black Beach prison where he was held on suspicion of involvement in a coup plot, was tortured to death, a South African who was in jail with him said in an interview published on Saturday in the Frankfurter Rundschau daily.
Officials in Equatorial Guinea said on March 18 that Gerhard Eugen Merz, a logistics expert who worked for a German air freight company in the Equatorial Guinea capital Malabo, had died of cerebral malaria just over a week after being arrested along with 14 other suspected coup plotters.
But one of Merz's co-accused, 56-year-old South African Mark Schmidt, told the Frankfurter Rundschau that the German was "beaten and burned on the soles of his feet" in the few days he was in jail.
According to the paper, Merz's body was repatriated in June and the prosecutor's office in Frankfurt had ordered a post-mortem to be carried out to determine the cause of death.
But the prosecutor's office has refused to say if the post-mortem showed that Merz had been tortured, and even months after the autopsy, has said its investigations are still ongoing, said the paper.
Tell-tale signs
"Incredible," was Schmidt's reaction in the paper.
"Didn't they see the burn marks on Gerhard's feet? The scrapes on the tibia and the large scar on his chest?" he asked.
Schmidt dismissed reports that Merz had died of malaria.
"I've had malaria four times. The symptoms are completely different."
Schmidt was released from prison last week after spending nine months behind bars.
German-born Schmidt was one of three South Africans who were acquitted late last month of plotting to oust Equato-Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
Five South Africans and six Armenians were given stiff jail sentences, as were an Equato-Guinean opposition leader and his government-in-exile.
During his time in jail, Schmidt said that he and his co-detainees "all became religious and prayed four times a day.
"Otherwise, we would not have been able to stand the beatings, the disease."
German 'tortured to death'
11/12/2004 20:21 - (SA)
Berlin - A German who died in March in Equatorial Guinea's notorious Black Beach prison where he was held on suspicion of involvement in a coup plot, was tortured to death, a South African who was in jail with him said in an interview published on Saturday in the Frankfurter Rundschau daily.
Officials in Equatorial Guinea said on March 18 that Gerhard Eugen Merz, a logistics expert who worked for a German air freight company in the Equatorial Guinea capital Malabo, had died of cerebral malaria just over a week after being arrested along with 14 other suspected coup plotters.
But one of Merz's co-accused, 56-year-old South African Mark Schmidt, told the Frankfurter Rundschau that the German was "beaten and burned on the soles of his feet" in the few days he was in jail.
According to the paper, Merz's body was repatriated in June and the prosecutor's office in Frankfurt had ordered a post-mortem to be carried out to determine the cause of death.
But the prosecutor's office has refused to say if the post-mortem showed that Merz had been tortured, and even months after the autopsy, has said its investigations are still ongoing, said the paper.
Tell-tale signs
"Incredible," was Schmidt's reaction in the paper.
"Didn't they see the burn marks on Gerhard's feet? The scrapes on the tibia and the large scar on his chest?" he asked.
Schmidt dismissed reports that Merz had died of malaria.
"I've had malaria four times. The symptoms are completely different."
Schmidt was released from prison last week after spending nine months behind bars.
German-born Schmidt was one of three South Africans who were acquitted late last month of plotting to oust Equato-Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
Five South Africans and six Armenians were given stiff jail sentences, as were an Equato-Guinean opposition leader and his government-in-exile.
During his time in jail, Schmidt said that he and his co-detainees "all became religious and prayed four times a day.
"Otherwise, we would not have been able to stand the beatings, the disease."