|
Zim 70 get July trial date
23/06/2004 11:36 - (SA)
Harare - The trial of 70 suspected mercenaries arrested in Zimbabwe for allegedly plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea will begin on July 19, the judge said on Wednesday.
The 70 men were arrested on March 7 when their plane was making a stopover in Harare to pick up weapons, allegedly en route to Equatorial Guinea to topple long-time President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
"You come back to court on the 19th of July at nine in the morning for trial," Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe told the defendants.
The men deny that they were plotting a coup and maintain they were going to the Democratic Republic of Congo to guard a diamond mine.
They are from South Africa, Namibia and Angola but were all travelling on South African passports.
Members of the group face possible extradition to Equatorial Guinea, where they could be sentenced to death along with 15 other alleged mercenaries who have been arrested on similar charges in the capital of the oil-rich central African country, Malabo.
Lawyers representing the families of the alleged soldiers of fortune failed earlier this month to force the South African government to seek their extradition from Zimbabwe and put them on trial at home.
The families are seeking to appeal that decision before the constitutional court in South Africa.
Defence lawyers are hoping that a trial in Zimbabwe for the suspected mercenaries will reduce the likelihood that the men will be extradited to Equatorial Guinea.
But the Zimbabwe government could decide at the end of the trial to hand them over to Equatorial Guinea under the provisions of its recently amended extradition laws.
The detainees, who were arrested when their Boeing 727 landed in Harare to pick up weapons from Zimbabwe's state arms manufacturer, are facing a variety of charges under firearms, immigration, security and aviation laws.
If convicted, the maximum penalty they face is a fine of Z$200 000 (about R230) for attempting to obtain weapons.
- AFP
|
