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Lawyers fighting jail trial
19/03/2004 22:49 - (SA)
Harare - The legal struggle to bring to court 70 alleged mercenaries accused of plotting the overthrow of the government of Equatorial Guinea in West Africa deepened on Friday as their lawyers launched a counter-attack against state plans to have their court hearings held in jail.
The lawyers said the state produced a sixth charge in as many days against the 70, this time accusing them of "conspiring to commit international terrorism".
"There is no act for this," said South African lawyer Alwyn Griebenow, part of the defence team.
"They (the Zimbabwe attorney-general's office) say it is a common law offence. I have never heard of it."
The group of South Africans, Angolans, Namibians, Democratic Republic of Congo nationals and one Zimbabwean have been in detention here since Sunday, March 7.
Police seized 67 of them after they landed at Harare International Airport in a Boeing 727.
They arrested three more, including the group's alleged leader, former British Special Air Services regiment officer Simon Mann, who were waiting on the tarmac for the plane.
Wanted court appearance inside prison
Each day since Sunday, lawyers have driven to Chikurubi Prison on Harare's outskirts to be surprised with a new accusation being levelled against their clients.
Friday's latest charge comes on top of accusations that they attempted to overthrow a foreign government, plotted to possess lethal weapons, conspired to murder President Mbasogo, illegally acquired firearms and violated immigration legislation.
The defence lawyers said the government indicated on Wednesday this week it wanted to have at least the initial, mandatory court appearance of the 70 inside Chikurubi prison, for security reasons.
The defence team immediately objected. "We want a public court, not a secret one," said lawyer Jonathan Samkange.
Ministers and lawyers at odds
Griebenow said Francois Joubert, also part of the defence team, had applied to the Harare high court on Friday for an urgent application to order the state to bring the "mercenaries" to the Harare magistrate's court for the first remand hearing.
He expected a judge would hear the application on Saturday.
He also said police on Wednesday last week had issued a warrant under immigration regulations that allowed authorities to hold suspects for two weeks before releasing them or bringing them to court to allow them to apply for bail.
"It means they can be held until Thursday next week," he said.
"Every day we get told they will be coming to court tomorrow. We don't have a clue when it will happen. It's pure speculation."
During the last week state lawyers and ministers of President Robert Mugabe's government have been contradicting each other, with the politicians demanding "the severest punishment", including hanging.
The lawyers have insisted that Zimbabwean law can only charge them with lesser offences under immigration and firearms control act.
- SAPA
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