The head of the defence team for 70 suspected mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea has withdrawn from the case, his associates said on Wednesday.
Veteran South African attorney Francois Joubert, a specialist in security and terrorism cases, “is no longer a member of the defence team”, said fellow lawyer Alwyn Griebenow.
He refused to give a reason. Joubert was not immediately available for comment.
Sixty-seven of the suspects pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges of breaking Zimbabwe’s immigration and aviation laws when their ageing Boeing 727 landed at Harare airport on March 7.
They were immediately convicted of the offences, which are punishable by up to two years in jail.
The alleged coup leader, former British special forces member Simon Mann, and two associates were not on the plane and were arrested separately in Zimbabwe.
All 70 were expected to enter innocent pleas on Wednesday to more serious charges relating to conspiracy, security and firearms, stemming from allegations that they sought to purchase weapons from Zimbabwe’s state arms manufacturer to use in overthrowing Equatorial Guinea’s president.
Those charges carry a penalty of between 10 years’ and life imprisonment.
The case has been beset by delays and haggling with state prosecutors over the charges, evidence and a possible plea-bargain.
Prosecutors allege Equatorial Guinea’s Spanish-based rebel leader, Severo Moto, offered the group $1,8-million and oil rights to overthrow President Theodoro Obiang Nguema in the former Spanish colony.
The suspects, most of them former members of South Africa’s apartheid-era military forces, maintain they were headed to security jobs at mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
During preliminary hearings in April, Joubert argued the 67 men on the plane did not break any Zimbabwean laws as they only disembarked when forced off by military police. No weapons were found on the plane.
Joubert also complained of political pressure in the case after Zimbabwe Foreign Minister Stan Mudenge called for the death penalty to be applied.
State prosecutors insist the Boeing’s crew and passengers were effectively in Zimbabwe from the moment their plane taxied from Harare International airport to an adjacent air-force base allegedly to collect weapons purchased from the Zimbabwe arms manufacturer.
In April, Zimbabwe said it had revised its extradition policy to include Equatorial Guinea, raising the possibility the suspects could be sent to the West African nation for trial with seven South Africans and Namibians arrested there.
If tried in Equatorial Guinea, described by human rights groups as one of the most repressive countries in the world, they could face execution.
‘Mercenary’ leader pleads guilty to security charge
Meanwhile, the leader of the 70 suspected mercenaries pleaded guilty on Wednesday to violating Zimbabwe’s security laws.
But Briton Simon Mann, a former Special Air Service officer, entered a not-guilty plea to violating firearms legislation on the second day of the trial held in a makeshift courtroom in Harare’s maximum-security Chikurubi prison.
State prosecutors on Wednesday called Hope Mutize, the marketing manager at Zimbabwe’s state arms manufacturer, who testified that Mann and South African Nick du Toit, who has been arrested along with 14 others in Malabo, had approached him in February to buy $180Â 800-worth of weapons.
“Mr Mann said he wanted to buy some weapons. According to him, he wanted to use the weapons to guard mines in the DRC,” Mutize testified, adding that the men had put down a deposit for the weapons.
The prosecutors called Mutize to the stand to prove that Mann had purchased weapons in violation of Zimbabwe’s firearms laws. — Sapa-AFP, Sapa-AP
Will Zim 70 be sent to E Guinea?