Mercenary coup plot trial put back
The trial of 70 suspected mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea was adjourned for 24 hours after a five-minute hearing in Zimbabwe today.
Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe, presiding in a makeshift courtroom at the Chikurubi maximum security prison, announced the second adjournment this week.
The trial had been scheduled to begin on Monday, but the defence asked for a postponement to allow them to appeal for the trial to be moved to South Africa, home of most of the suspects.
Prosecutor Stephen Musona asked for the adjournment today but gave no reason.
Defence lawyer Francois Joubert of South Africa said he accepted the prosecution request.
He said he had no information on reports that Zimbabwe was willing to consider a deal on the fate of the suspects. According to South African media reports, prosecutors might have considered a plea bargain.
The men were detained after landing at Zimbabwe’s Harare International Airport on March 7, and are accused of conspiring to carry out a coup in the tiny, oil-rich West African nation of Equatorial Guinea with weapons bought in Zimbabwe.
They are charged with violating Zimbabwe’s immigration, firearms and security laws, which carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment in Zimbabwe.
About 50 family members of the men gathered at the prison outside Harare today with parcels of dried foods, ketchup and toilet rolls.
Local reporters allowed into the prison said wives wiped away tears as the suspects, dressed in khaki prison garb and manacled and handcuffed in pairs, shuffled into the hall used for the hearing.
Most of the men were unshaven with unkempt hair.
Representatives of some foreign media organisations have been barred from covering the trial at the makeshift courtroom.
Hundreds of troops and paramilitary police, backed by armoured cars and artillery, ringed the prison complex. Snipers were posted on the roofs of the cell blocks.
Lawyers for the suspects, most of whom have South African citizenship, have asked for the trial to be moved to South Africa, fearing Zimbabwe could extradite them to Equatorial Guinea – a nation ranked by rights groups as one of the most repressive and corrupt in the world.
Zimbabwe established diplomatic relations with Equatorial Guinea last month. If tried there, the men could face execution. In South Africa there is no death penalty.
Prosecutors allege Equatorial Guinea’s Spanish-based rebel leader Severo Moto offered the group €1.5m and oil rights to overthrow President Theodoro Obiang Nguema in the former Spanish colony.
Most of the suspects are former members of South Africa’s apartheid-era military forces.
They deny plotting to overthrow Obiang, saying they were headed to security jobs at mining operations in eastern Congo when they were detained after their ageing Boeing 727 landed at the Harare airport on March 7.
