'Dogs of war doomed in court'
2004-03-11 07:43
Equatorial Guinea - Beeld's political correspondent Erika Gibson reports that there is little chance that the 15 alleged mercenaries who are being held in Equatorial Guinea will be tried fairly in court or will receive decent legal representation.
The punishment for high treason in this country, should the men be charged with this crime, is swift execution.
The men, including seven South Africans, were arrested in the capital, Malabo, over the weekend. It later came to light that their "primary objective" was to kill President Obiang Nguema and to execute a coup.
These men are being linked to another group that was arrested in Zimbabwe and who were allegedly destined to assist in the coup attempt.
A report by the International Bar Association's human rights institute, which was completed after a visit to Equatorial Guinea last year, described the country as having virtually no just legal system.
Prisoners do not even have the right to legal representation during a trial. The country's bar was disbanded and there is no separation of authority between government and justice in the country.
Tortured
During the high-profile trial of 144 previous coup plotters a few months ago, the accused were regularly tortured to influence testimony.
It was after international criticism of this trial that the International Bar Association investigated the country's legal system.
In its findings, the association said the executive authority of Nguema entirely controlled justice and that judges were not independent.
No newspaper
Freedom of speech, which is ironically entrenched in the country's constitution, is so limited that the country does not have single newspaper. Bookshops and public libraries also do not exist.
This is probably the legacy of former president Marcias Nguema, the first president since independence was gained from Spain in 1968.
This former president shut down schools and other educational institutions because he believed they were part of the evil of colonialism. He was also afraid that more literate people would pose a threat to him.
Former president Nguema was deposed by his nephew and current president in a coup in 1979. Nguema has since acted as sovereign ruler of the country and he banned all opposition parties.
Witchcraft
The legal system is operated in the midst of a mixture of witchcraft, association with certain questionable people, serious corruption and bribery. Judges are also expected to be subservient to the state and to be grateful to the state for their appointments.
Military judges, with their own frame of references about how justice should be served, are randomly appointed to civil courts.
The association suggested that the country urgently establish an independent bar with a specific ethical code to put an end to government intervention.
However, this has still not happened, which means that the state can determine what the court ruling should be in the case against the alleged mercenaries.