The attorney general of Equatorial Guinea lied when he applied to the South African government for Mark Thatcher to undergo questioning, the Cape High Court heard on Tuesday.
Advocate Peter Hodes was arguing Thatcher’s bid for the overturn of a subpoena ordering him to appear before a Cape Town magistrate to answer questions on an alleged coup plot in Equatorial Guinea.
The subpoena was issued after South African Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla approved a request from the country’s Attorney General, Jose Obono.
However, Hodes told a full bench of judges that Obono’s claim that Thatcher’s interrogation would allow the 19 alleged coup plotters on trial in Equatorial Guinea to benefit from a fair hearing was ”obviously spurious”.
He said it was clear the information being sought was to strengthen the prosecution in the trial, which was suspended on August 31 to allow Thatcher to be questioned.
”Obono was duty-bound … to be honest and frank and ultra scrupulous in the request, and not to be guilty of mendacity, which he clearly was,” Hodes said.
”There was every reason to refuse the request, because there was a lie.”
Thatcher says in documents before the court that his application is not to do with his guilt or innocence in relation to the alleged coup bid, but with the lawfulness of the decision that he should be questioned.
Hodes told the court it is unconstitutional for the South African government to provide assistance to a trial that does not meet internationally accepted minimum standards of justice.
By August 17, six days before the trial began, the accused had still had no legal representation. According to one report, when they did get a lawyer, they each had four minutes to consult with him.
There have also been allegations by several of the accused that they were tortured.
A South African Department of Justice and Constitutional Development official who went to Equatorial Guinea to ensure that accused Nick du Toit and his fellow South Africans received a fair trial had even failed to ascertain whether the court was in fact a military tribunal.
”With all due respect, you could not consider giving approval to these people in relation to that trial,” Hodes said.
He also said the subpoena failed to take into account Thatcher’s right to silence, and that Mabandla had failed to take account of the death penalty facing Du Toit.
Thatcher, son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, is suspected by Equatorial Guinea of bankrolling the coup plot.
He was arrested in Cape Town in August and is to appear in court in November to answer charges of violating South African anti-mercenary legislation.
Out on bail, he attended Tuesday’s High Court hearing, which is being filmed by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) for later broadcast as an edited package.
The filming follows an application by the SABC on Monday. — Sapa