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Zim 70 face extradition woes
24/06/2004 16:07 - (SA)
Harare - Zimbabwe established diplomatic relations with Equatorial Guinea on Thursday, raising concerns that 70 suspected mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in the tiny West African nation will be extradited to face trial there.
The suspects were detained in Zimbabwe after their aging Boeing 727 landed at Harare International Airport on March 7.
Zimbabwe state radio said on Thursday the two countries agreed with immediate effect to exchange ambassadors and establish full diplomatic ties.
Alwyn Griebenow, an attorney for the suspected coup plotters, said the decision was apparently taken to facilitate dealings between the two governments on the possible extradition of the suspects.
"Obviously they are helping each other, and the only help Equatorial Guinea wants is the extradition of our clients," he said.
No comment was immediately available from the Foreign Ministry in Harare. Zimbabwe has closed several of its foreign embassies, citing shortages of hard currency needed to run them.
Most of the suspects held in Zimbabwe - who include South Africans, Namibians, Angolans, Congolese, a Zimbabwean and a British national - are former members of the apartheid-era military forces.
Men could face death penalty
They are a charged with conspiring to carry out a coup with weapons bought in Zimbabwe and violating Zimbabwe's immigration, firearms and security laws.
The charges carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment in Zimbabwe.
At a court hearing on Wednesday, state prosecutors said they will be ready to go to trial no later than July 19.
If extradited, the men could face the death penalty in Equatorial Guinea.
Prosecutors allege Equatorial Guinea's Spanish-based rebel leader Severo Moto offered the group $1.8m and oil rights to overthrow President Theodoro Obiang Nguema in the former Spanish colony.
The suspects in Zimbabwe deny plotting to overthrow Obiang, saying they were headed to security jobs at mining operations in eastern Congo.
Defence attorneys are seeking the suspects' extradition to South Africa, where there is no death penalty, for trial under its anti-mercenary laws.
The Pretoria High Court on June 6 threw out an application by family members to have the men tried in South Africa.
Griebenow said an appeal to the higher Constitutional Court against that ruling is being sought.
In April, Zimbabwe said it had revised its extradition policy to include Equatorial Guinea, a country ranked by rights groups as one of the most repressive in the world.
The US state department's latest country report on Equatorial Guinea, where Obiang has ruled for 25 years, said "judicial corruption" was widespread there, and described prison conditions as "life threatening."
- AP
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