Seventy suspected mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea were remanded in custody on Tuesday after their first appearance at an improvised court room at the maximum security jail in Zimbabwe where they are being held.
Dressed in green prison shorts and shirts, the men sat grimly on wooden benches set up in a function room behind 10m-high walls and razor wire at Chikurubi prison. Most were manacled and shackled.
Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe presided from behind a wooden table at the front of the room.
The suspects — who include South Africans, Namibians, Angolans, Congolese, a Zimbabwean and a British national — were arrested when their ageing Boeing 727 landed at Harare International airport on March 7. Most are former members of South Africa’s apartheid-era military forces.
Authorities allege that Spanish-based rebel leader Severo Moto offered the suspects $1,8-million and oil rights to overthrow the government in Equatorial Guinea, a former Spanish colony. Another 14 suspected mercenaries have been detained in that West African country.
Prosecutor Mary Dube said a three-member advance team led by Simon Mann, a former member of Britain’s elite Special Air Service regiment, had attempted to purchase weapons from the state arms manufacturer.
She said they handed over a $90 000 advance on February 8 toward $180 000-worth of machine guns, anti-tank weapons and ammunition.
When the plane with its 64 passengers and three-member flight crew landed at the international airport on March 7, it refuelled and taxied over to a nearby military airfield to collect the weapons, she said. It was then impounded by Zimbabwe authorities.
The men say they were on their way to security jobs at mining operations in eastern Congo.
Five charges were read out to the suspects on Tuesday, including conspiring to carry out a coup with weapons purchased in Zimbabwe.
They were also accused of violating Zimbabwe’s immigration, firearms and security legislation. If convicted, they could face life in prison.
Allegations they conspired to murder Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Ngeuma and his bodyguards were dropped at the last minute, along with subversion and terrorism charges.
The men were not asked to plead before they were remanded in custody until their next appearance on April 13.
The handful of relatives present for the hearing waived and smiled at the accused, but weren’t allowed to get close enough to touch them as they were hustled out of the room.
Security was tight for the hearing. Police mounted on horseback guarded the gates with automatic rifles, and the about 200 spectators were carefully searched.
Defense attorney Jonathan Samkange said his clients had been ”professionally handled” since they were handed over to police on March 10, but complained about their treatment by the military members who initially detained them.
Samkange said some of the men were assaulted and thrown off the aircraft. They were also denied food and water, he said.
Defense lawyers had asked the Harare High Court to order authorities to try the men in open court. But the request was turned down on Monday after prison authorities argued they were a flight risk and said they only had one truck to drive them the 25km to Harare Magistrate’s Court. — Sapa-AP