Zimbabwe prosecutors on Wednesday urged a court to accept Equatorial Guinea’s request to extradite a Briton wanted on coup-plot charges, but defence lawyers said the request lacked merit.
Simon Mann, a former British special forces officer, is being held at a top security prison in Zimbabwe after he was convicted by a court in September 2004 for attempting to purchase weapons without a licence.
Mann is due for early release for good behaviour on May 11, but the Equatorial Guinea government has sought his extradition to face charges of plotting to assassinate the country’s president, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
In closing arguments during the extradition hearing, prosecutor Joseph Jagada said there was evidence Mann was central in planning a coup in the oil-rich West African country and said Equatorial Guinea had made undertakings to Harare that the Briton would receive a fair trial.
”It is quite clear that Mann intended to launch a coup in Equatorial Guinea … there is prima facie evidence that this is what he intended to do,” Jagada told the court.
Harare magistrate Omega Mugumbate adjourned the hearing to May 9 when she will make a ruling, just two days ahead of Mann’s expected release from prison.
Mann’s lawyer said the court should reject the request, arguing there was no evidence his client had a case to answer.
”We urge the court to decline the request made by Equatorial Guinea and discharge the respondent,” lawyer Jonathan Samkange said.
Mann, who has testified during the extradition hearing, has said he cannot go to Equatorial Guinea because the authorities there will not spare his life and that he would be tortured.
Jagada said Equatorial Guinea was willing to have an African Union-appointed judge preside over Mann’s trial and that the death sentence would not be imposed if he is found guilty.
Sixty-six other defendants arrested with Mann after their plane stopped in Harare served less than one year in jail after pleading guilty to charges of violating Zimbabwe’s immigration and civil aviation laws.
Eleven others, including a number of foreigners, are serving sentences ranging from 13 to 34 years in an Equatorial Guinea jail in connection with the coup plot.
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s son Mark, accused of helping to fund the foiled coup, pleaded guilty to taking part but cut a deal with prosecutors in South Africa, where he lived, to avoid jail. — Reuters