Coup plot: Mann pardoned

2009-11-03 10:38

Johannesburg - Equatorial Guinea's chief judge says convicted British coup plotter Simon Mann and four South African mercenaries have been pardoned by the central African nation's president and will be freed shortly.

Supreme Court Justice Obono Olo told The Associated Press by telephone that Mann and his accomplices would be freed later on Tuesday morning. He said President Teodoro Obiang Nguema gave them "a full pardon for humanitarian reasons".

Eton-educated Mann was the ringleader in an attempted coup that entangled Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He pleaded guilty in a South African court several years ago to unwittingly helping to bankroll the 2004 coup operation. He was fined and given a suspended sentenced.