Zim 70: 67 plead guilty
2004-07-27 17:55
Harare - Sixty-seven suspected mercenaries who were allegedly involved in plotting a coup in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea pleaded guilty to minor charges on Tuesday as their trial opened in a maximum-security prison in Zimbabwe.
Judge Mishrod Guvamombe accepted the plea from the men who admitted to violating immigration and aviation laws, declaring: "All the 67 accused persons are found guilty as charged."
The 67 men were on board a plane that stopped over in Zimbabwe on March 7 to pick up weapons from the state arms manufacturer that they claim were to be used to guard a diamond mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The men were arrested along with three others who were awaiting them at Harare airport and they were accused of plotting to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea.
All 70 suspected soldiers of fortune were to enter a plea to separate charges of violating firearm and security legislation when the trial resumes on Wednesday in Chikurubi prison, on the outskirts of Harare.
A conviction under immigration and aviation laws carries a small fine or a short prison term.
But the charges of breaching Zimbabwe's firearms and security laws could lead to a 10-year jail term.
Extradition
The real question, however, is whether Zimbabwe will extradite the 70 men to Equatorial Guinea where they could face the death penalty or a long sentence in Malabo's notoriously hash prisons.
President Robert Mugabe's government has already amended its extradition laws to allow the transfer to Equatorial Guinea of suspects wanted there for trial.
Among the three men who did not enter a plea on Tuesday was Briton Simon Mann, the alleged leader of the group, that Zimbabwean authorities say was on its way to Malabo to join 15 other suspected mercenaries allegedly involved in the coup plot.
Mann, a former member of Britain's crack Special Air Service troops, and two others were not on board the plane that had arrived from South Africa.
SA passports
The 70 were all carrying South African passports at the time of their arrest but their countries of origin include Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa.
The trial of the 70 has been twice postponed to give lawyers an opportunity to review the charges and discuss the pleas with their clients.
Defence lawyers are hoping that the trial will not drag on beyond a week or two.
Family members of the detained men were in attendance on Tuesday, as they have been at earlier court appearances.
Some waved to their detained relatives, many of them now sporting beards and bushy hair after more than four months in custody.
'False declaration'
State prosecutors on Tuesday said they had made a false declaration to aviation authorities at Harare International Airport, claiming to have only three men on board.
Zimbabwean soldiers found the passengers sitting quietly in the back of the plane in the dark at the time of their arrest.
Family members in South Africa have lodged a court appeal to have the men brought back home to be tried there, but they are still awaiting judgement from the Constitutional Court in that case.