Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema on Sunday pardoned six Armenian pilots who were sentenced to prison for their alleged roles in an attempted coup last year, according to a decree read on national radio.
The ”total pardon” is for ”the Armenian nationals being held at Malabo’s central prison”, the decree dated June 4 said.
The president granted the pardon as a ”humanitarian gesture” on the occasion of his 63rd birthday.
The six Armenians, who have always claimed their innocence, are to be immediately released and handed over to ”competent authorities” who will see that they are repatriated to Armenia, according to the decree.
The Armenian pilots were sentenced with others in November in Equatorial Guinea.
They were accused of taking part in a plot to overthrow Nguema which also involved suspected mercenaries who were arrested in Zimbabwe for alleging picking up weapons there to use in the coup attempt.
British businessman Mark Thatcher, the son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, was accused of partly financing the alleged plot and pleaded guilty in South Africa to violating its anti-mercenary law and paid a R3-million fine in January. – Sapa-AFP