'Harsh treatment' of Zim 70
2004-04-30 14:28
Harare - A court hearing for 70 suspected mercenaries held in Zimbabwe on charges of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea was cancelled on Friday, as a lawyer revealed that five of the men had been moved to a different prison.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe had agreed to extradite the 70 men to face trial in Equatorial Guinea.
"There won't be any court today, until further notice," Assistant Commissioner Huggins Machingauta from the Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison told reporters and relatives of the detainees.
Lawyer Francois Joubert later told reporters that five of the men had been moved to Harare remand prison early on Friday morning, while those remaining at Chikurubi, where they have been held since their arrest last month, were now being kept permanently in handcuffs.
Manacled from now on
"All the rest of the South Africans have been handcuffed and manacled. They've been told that's how it's going to be from now on," he said.
"It's against all legal precedent," Joubert said.
The 70 men were detained on March 7 at Harare International Airport when their Boeing 727 stopped to refuel and pick up military equipment.
The Zimbabwe authorities arrested them, claiming they were on their way to join 15 suspected mercenaries arrested in Equatorial Guinea on charges of plotting to overthrow the government of the oil-rich central African nation.
Mugabe held talks on Thursday with Equatorial Guinean leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema on the fate of the 70 men in Zimbabwe's second city of Bulawayo.
Harsh treatment
Joubert said he could not explain the harsh treatment of the prisoners, who were this week granted various concessions by prison authorities, including having their shackles removed during court hearings.
Joubert said he did not know of any imminent plan by Zimbabwe to extradite his clients, but that if there was one, Zimbabwe would have to follow the law.
This would mean giving each of the men a chance to be heard by the magistrate hearing the application for extradition, and a right to appeal to a higher court if the application is granted.