involving Iran, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and India, a Bonn court found
Mertins and his closest colleagues innocent of any legal infraction,
since they had been operating according to guidelines set by the
federal government. In 1980, Mertins even received compensation
for the financial losses caused by the trial. No government or BND
officials were ever charged.MEYER, TILL (1944– ). A prominent West German terrorist with
links to the Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), Till Meyer
was born in Luckenwalde near Berlin on 31 March 1944, the son of
a Wehrmacht soldier killed shortly thereafter. At the age of 15, he left
school in search of adventure but, repelled by his experience working
on a freighter, soon returned to West Berlin. Minor conflicts with the
police ensued, including a three-week detention in jail. Following a
series of odd jobs to support his new family in Trier, Meyer revealed
a growing interest in left-wing writers and student protest movements
and resettled in West Berlin. The emergence of the Rote Armee
Fraktion (RAF; Red Army Faction) in 1970 marked a new stage in
his radicalization. Ardently embracing the concept of urban guerrilla
warfare, he helped found a second group—Bewegung 2. Juni (Move-
ment of 2 June)—named in honor of the student Benno Ohnesorg
killed by police several years earlier on that date. Sentenced to a
three-year term for an armed incident in Bielefeld, he escaped from
prison in November 1973 and began to implement the group’s new
strategy of kidnapping important figures in exchange for the release
of fellow radicals incarcerated by the state. During their first at-
tempt, West Berlin’s highest ranking judge, Günter von Drenkmann,
was killed in error. The group later abducted Peter Lorenz, head of
the West Berlin branch of the Christlich-Demokratische Union, and
traded him for five political prisoners.
On 6 June 1975, Meyer was apprehended and sent to prison. Af-
ter his efforts to flee and a hunger strike proved futile, a commando
team of two female movement members facilitated his escape. Un-
willing to assist the West Germans in their pursuit, authorities in
the German Democratic Republic (GDR) gave the trio unimpeded
entry and permission to fly to Prague. Yet after their arrival in
Bulgaria—to their complete bewilderment—government officials
in Sofia decided to cooperate with the West Germans and approved
MEYER, TILL • 297