Du Toit faces death

2004-08-23 22:40

Malabo - The prosecutor in the case of South African alleged mercenary leader Nick du Toit, who has admitted a limited role in a coup bid in Equatorial Guinea, called on Monday for him to be sentenced to death.

Du Toit told the court in Malabo he had taken charge of logistics for an attempted coup.

The admission came on the first day of his trial with 17 other alleged plotters, who have been charged with plotting to oust President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

"I wasn't part of the operational group because my task was logistics, that's to say getting vehicles" to the airport.

Du Toit, who runs a number of businesses in the country, made this admission when he was returned to the courtroom on his own after an adjournment.

Questioned by attorney-general José Olo Obono, the South African said he had accepted the job at the request of Simon Mann, the alleged leader of 70 other suspected mercenaries arrested in Zimbabwe.

Evasive about his exact role

He said Mann had promised him a $1m and the right to pursue his business activities.

The mercenaries held in Zimbabwe were allegedly due to join others in Equatorial Guinea to carry out the coup against the man who has run the country with his family and close aides since 1979.

Du Toit was evasive when questioned about his exact role, in particular whether he was involved in the planned attack on a police barracks.

"It was more than six months ago," he said.

"I don't remember any more, but I think so."

He said his co-accused were not aware of what was being planned and that he had just asked them to meet people at the airport.

The state prosecutor announced that besides the death penalty for Du Toit, he wanted prison terms ranging from 26 years to 86 years for the South African's co-defendants.

Du Toit appeared along with seven other South Africans, six Armenians and four Equatorial Guineans, including former deputy economic planning minister Antonio Javier Nguema Nchama.

'Was told he was in a country nearby'

They are facing charges ranging from "crimes against the head of state" to treason and terrorism.

Du Toit implicated exiled opposition leader Severo Moto, head of a "government in exile" in Madrid and accused of masterminding the coup attempt.

"I was told he was in a country very nearby... and that he would be there 30 minutes after the coup."

Three days after his arrest Du Toit "confessed" on television that Moto had told him to kidnap Obiang.

Du Toit's lawyer, Fernando Mico, called for a seven-year prison term for his client, saying: "There was no conspiracy, given that no weapons were found in their possession."

Lawyer Polciano Mbomio, pleading on behalf of the six Armenian defendants, asked for charges against them to be dropped, and called Obono's summary "narrative fiction".

- AFP