A top official from Equatorial Guinea has assured a court in Zimbabwe that alleged British mercenary Simon Mann will receive a fair trial if he is extradited to the oil-rich Central African country, reports said Friday.
Jose Olo Obono, Equatorial Guinea’s Attorney General, said his country would not impose the death penalty against Mann if he is convicted of plotting to topple the government, reported the state- controlled Herald newspaper.
Obono said this under cross-examination by defence lawyer Jonathan Samkange on Thursday at the start of a hearing in which Equatorial Guinea is seeking Mann’s extradition when he completes a jail sentence in Zimbabwe in May.
Mann is alleged to be the leader of a foiled coup in Equatorial Guinea. He and dozens of other alleged soldiers of fortune were arrested in Zimbabwe in 2004 when their plane stopped in Harare to pick up weapons.
Zimbabwean authorities said the men were en route to Equatorial Guinea, where they were planning to overthrow the government of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
The charge can carry the death sentence or a 30-year jail term upon conviction in Equatorial Guinea.
The men maintained they were on their way to the Democratic Republic of Congo to guard diamond mines.
Mann was sentenced to a four-year jail term in 2004 by a Harare magistrate. He is due for release on May 11, when he will have served a compulsory two-thirds of his sentence.
”We [Equatorial Guinea] have nothing personal against Mann and if the court allows us to handle the case in our country, we are to conduct an open and fair trial,” Obono was quoted by the Herald as saying.
”We undertake that our courts would not impose a death sentence on Mann if he is convicted,” Obono told magistrate Omega Mugumbate.
”There is no torture in our country as alleged and we hope to invite magistrates and lawyers from Zimbabwe to Mann’s trial, if we are allowed to try the case, for transparency,” he added.
Defence lawyer Samkange is opposing the extradition application, saying Zimbabwe’s laws do not allow for a suspect to be extradited to a country where he cannot be assured a fair trial, or where he faces possible torture.
He said some alleged accomplices of Mann’s who were arrested in Equatorial Guinea in 2004 had been severely tortured.
But a Zimbabwean state lawyer, who is representing Equatorial Guinea, told the court on Thursday that his clients had furnished the court with sufficient documentation for the application to succeed.
”Under the current request, the applicant [Equatorial Guinea] is only supposed to lead evidence that would establish a prima facie case in our court, the Herald quoted state lawyer Joseph Jagada as saying.
”The documents we rely on go beyond what is provided in the law of extradition,” he said.
The hearing was set to continue Friday. — Sapa-dpa