The trial of 19 of people accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea, due to resume next week, will be postponed following the death of a defence lawyer, the president of the court said on Wednesday.
Fernando Mico Nsue, the lawyer for eight South Africans said to be implicated in the coup plot in the oil-rich West African state, died on Tuesday of malaria at the age of 62.
”It is clear that the [resumption] of this trial will inevitably be postponed, because … the South Africans will have to find a new lawyer,” said court president Salvador Ondo Nkumu without specifying the length of the delay.
He said a new date would be officially set on Thursday or Friday. A legal source suggested that the postponement would be of one or two weeks.
In addition to the South Africans, six Armenians and five Equato-Guineans, including a former deputy minister, went on trial in Malabo on August 23 for allegedly trying to topple Obiang, in power 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