Lawyers for the defence intend to produce evidence that some of the mercenaries accused of plotting to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea have bought weapons from Zimbabwe in the past.
The defence team of the 70 men arrested in Harare in March will contest all the charges against them — including violations of Zimbabwean security, firearms, immigration and aviation laws.
Their defence attorney, Jonathan Samkange, will argue that the suspects did not commit any offence in Zimbabwe. They were instead on a mission to guard mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Samkange said the defence will show the suspects did not breach security legislation because they were not found in possession of ”dangerous weapons”.
On the issue of allegedly violating the Firearms Act, the defence will claim that the arms were for use outside Zimbabwe. The legislation prohibits the purchase of arms, without a licence, for use in the country.
The suspects contest the charge of contravening immigration laws on the basis that they were forced to enter the country after their arrest. They claim they had no intention of passing through immigration and therefore did not enter Zimbabwe illegally.
While defence lawyers are confident that the worst that could happen to their clients is that they would be slapped with a fine, Zimbabwe’s Foreign Minister, Stan Mudenge, is quoted as wanting the men hanged.
Earlier this week the South African Constitutional Court reserved judgement on the suspects’ application to force the government to request an extradition order for the men to stand trial in South Africa.
The trial of 70 suspects finally got under way on Thursday after several postponements.
Samkange said the postponements were to ”allow us to sit down with our clients to clarify some issues which still need to be ironed out”.
”For instance, we don’t understand the charge under the Aviation Act and we have so far been unable to get the Act itself from government printers.”
Samkange dismissed as ”utter nonsense and absolute lies” reports that the defence had entered into a deal with the state for the extradition of the mercenaries to South Africa.
The South African Foreign Affairs Director General, Ayanda Ntsaluba, was yesterday quoted as saying there was no behind-the-scenes deal.