Editing Heckler & Koch (section)

=== Illegal arms sales to Mexico ===
On 11 December 2011, federal, state and local Mexican police officers used [[battle rifle]]s to fire on [[Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College]] students and peasant organizations to disperse a blockade on [[Mexican Federal Highway 95D]], resulting in the deaths of students Jorge Alexis Herrera and Gabriel Echeverría de Jesús. According to media reports, [[7.62×51mm NATO]] round casings were found at the scene, matching those used by H&K G3 rifles.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.jornada.com.mx/2011/12/13/politica/002n1pol|title=Matan policías a dos estudiantes al desalojar un bloqueo carretero (Police kills two students dislodging a road blockade)|last=Ocampo|first=Sergio|date=2011-12-13|website=www.jornada.com.mx|language=es-MX|access-date=2019-02-25}}</ref> In [[Iguala]] and [[Cocula Municipality, Guerrero|Cocula]], corrupt police officers and cartelmen are known to have used H&K G36 rifles during the [[2014 Iguala mass kidnapping]] on 26–27 September 2013. At least six teaching students were murdered by cartelmen and corrupt local police, and 43 others are missing and presumed dead. Other than the six identified persons, no other bodies have been found, and they are believed to have been incinerated.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2019/02/21/696561255/heckler-koch-fined-4-2-million-over-assault-rifle-sales-in-mexico|title=Heckler & Koch Fined $4.2 Million Over Assault Rifle Sales In Mexico|first1=Bill|last1=Chappell|website=NPR|language=en|date=2019-02-19|access-date=2019-02-25}}</ref>

As a result of efforts by civil society and human rights organizations in Mexico and Germany,<ref name=":0" /> H&K and two of its former employees were brought before the Provincial Court of Stuttgart. After ten months of trial, on 21 February 2019, the court convicted them of illegally selling arms to Mexican governmental institutions which failed to acknowledge their due observance of human rights.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/heckler-koch-fined-37-million-over-illegal-arms-sales-to-mexico/a-47610975|title=Heckler & Koch fined €3.7 million over illegal arms sales to Mexico|date=21 February 2019|first1=Ben|last1=Knight|website=Deutsche Welle|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-02-25}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> The two former employees (sales manager Sahlmann and administrative employee Beuter) had been found to have used fraudulent permits in the sale of 4,700 rifles and large quantities of ammunition. H&K was issued a fine of 3.7 million euros, and the two men received suspended sentences of 17 and 22 months. The spokesman of the Presidency of the Republic of Mexico, Jesús Ramírez Cuevas, said that the amount of the fine should go to the victims and their families. 

On 30 March 2021, Germany's [[Federal Court of Justice]] (BGH) upheld the lower court's decision, finding that H&K employees knowingly falsified information on the nature and destination of arms sold by the company in order to attain federal export licenses.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Welle (www.dw.com)|first=Deutsche|title=Germany fines Heckler & Koch for illegal arms sales to Mexico {{!}} DW {{!}} 30.03.2021|url=https://www.dw.com/en/germany-fines-heckler-koch-for-illegal-arms-sales-to-mexico/a-57047654|access-date=2021-03-31|website=DW.COM|language=en-GB}}</ref>