Zimbabwe government lawyers said on Monday prison authorities were unable to ferry 70 alleged mercenaries, accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea, from jail to a magistrate’s court because the jail only had one functioning truck.
Mary Dube, for the Attorney General’s office, was explaining to High Court judge Tedius Karwi why the government wanted to hold the first routine court appearance of the 70 men within Chikurubi prison on Harare’s outskirts — and about 15km from the Harare Magistrates’ Court.
She added that army and paramilitary escort vehicles needed for an escort to prevent the ”highly trained commandos” from escaping were unsuitable because they kept on breaking down. When questioned by the judge what she meant by ”commando”, she was unable to explain.
A decision on the matter was expected later in the day.
Also on Monday, the first allegations of abuse of the 70 alleged mercenaries emerged as defence lawyer Jonathan Samkange said that when they were arrested at Harare international airport 15 days ago, ”they were assaulted, they were kicked and they were thrown out of the plane” on to the airport tarmac.
The Zimbabwe government alleges 70 ”terrorists” flew out of South Africa on March 7, aiming for the oil-rich former Spanish colony on the West African coast where they planned to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
However, the United States-registered aircraft was seized and the men aboard were arrested when they stopped over in Harare where, the government said, they had arranged to load a consignment of military weaponry.
Samkange said that after their arrest, members of the group was also scattered around various police stations in north-east Zimbabwe.
Lawyers had not been able to properly consult with their clients in the 10 days since they have been granted access to the detainees as prison warders were always present.
Prison authorities promised on Monday to allow the lawyers and their clients some privacy. While warders would still watch, they would not be able to listen. More information about the alleged assaults was expected after they had been consulted, he said.
South African defence advocate Francois Joubert told the judge that holding a routine remand hearing inside the prison would be ”like a court martial” and would violate their constitutional rights to ”having justice seen to be done”.
Joubert said the ”tremendous security” around Chikurubi, including several roadblocks on the road to the complex, would make it ”extremely difficult” for relatives of the detainees and the media to be able to attend the hearings.
He said it had taken them three hours to get inside the prison on Sunday. Their vehicle had been stopped at a roadblock. Permission to continue was denied because it had a foreign registration number.
Only after ”a long wait”, were they able to continue to the main gate, he said.
Foreigners, including relatives of the men, would have to obtain special approval from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before they were allowed in the prison complex, he said.
Authorities have brought six charges against the 70, including accusations that they broke United Nations resolutions on terrorism and plotted to murder the Guinean leader, to violating immigration and firearms control laws.
The government has said it wanted them to face ”the severest punishment, including capital punishment”. – Sapa