The lawyer for eight South Africans implicated in a coup plot in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea died in Malabo on Tuesday of malaria, his family said.
Fernando Mico Nsue, who also suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure, died in Malabo at the age of 62, said his eldest son, Alberto Nguema.
”He had not been feeling well over the past few days. He was suffering from malaria and when he had a relapse this morning, we decided to take him to the hospital. He died while he was being driven to the hospital,” the son added.
Mico Nsue had also defended some of the 100 Equatorial Guinean dissidents and former soldiers tried in 2002 for a threat to state security.
Meanwhile there was no official word on whether the trial of the 19 accused of involvement in the coup plot last March to oust President Teodoro Obiang Nguema would resume on October 18 as announced last week by the Malabo court’s chief judge.
In addition to the South Africans, six Armenians and five Equato-Guineans, including a former deputy minister, went on trial in Malabo in August for allegedly trying to topple Obiang, who has ruled the small central African country since 1979.
The case was adjourned on August 31 at the request of the country’s attorney general, Jose Olo Obono, to get ”further information” following the arrest of Mark Thatcher in South Africa on August 25.
The son of the former British prime minister is suspected by Equatorial Guinea and South Africa of bankrolling the alleged plot. – Sapa-AFP