The Zimbabwe Supreme Court has granted the country’s attorney general leave to appeal against the early release of a group of alleged South African mercenaries held there, their lawyer said on Wednesday.
”The men will be staying in Zimbabwe,” attorney Alwyn Griebenow said.
It is not yet clear when the appeal will begin.
”We are hoping for May,” he said.
The alleged mercenaries had not yet been informed of the decision on Wednesday, and Griebenow was planning to return to Zimbabwe to deliver the news.
The men were to return home this month after receiving a four-month reduction of their sentences.
This, combined with remission for good behaviour, meant they were eligible for immediate release.
They were originally sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment after being convicted of breaching Zimbabwean aviation, immigration, firearms and security laws.
Zimbabwe’s Attorney General, Sobuza Gula-Ndebele, filed a last-minute application for leave to appeal against the High Court’s reduction of the sentences the day the men were due to be freed.
”The suspension of a sentence for early release of a prisoner only applies to Zimbabwean citizens,” Gula-Ndebele said at the time.
South African Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Ronnie Mamoepa said the diplomatic mission in Harare will ”monitor the legal processes arising from the appeal by the attorney general and the outcome thereof”.
Earlier this month, some of the suspected mercenaries who had been due to be freed became tearful upon learning that their release has been put on hold.
”They are not doing well,” Griebenow said at the time from Harare after visiting the men at the Chikurubi prison. ”I broke the news to them this morning. It is a bad feeling when grown men stand before you with tears in their eyes.”
Sixty-five of the original 70 men arrested in March last year in connection with an alleged coup d’état in Equatorial Guinea remain in prison in Zimbabwe. Two were acquitted, two more freed for medical reasons, and one died in jail.
Of the 65, two pilots and alleged coup leader Simon Mann will have to remain in Zimbabwe to serve the remainder of their longer sentences, according to Griebenow. — Sapa