A Zimbabwean magistrate’s court ruled this week that suspected mercenary Simon Mann, who is serving a four-year jail term for purchasing arms without a valid certificate, can be extradited to Equatorial Guinea to face trial on charges of plotting to overthrow the government there.
Mann’s lawyer, Jonathan Samkange, was immediately granted an order not to have his client extradited pending the finalisation of his appeal in the high court.
Mann was arrested in March 2004 on charges of illegally purchasing weapons. He is believed to have been on his way to Equatorial Guinea to overthrow the government of Teodoro Obiang Nguema. Eleven other men suspected of being involved in the plot were sentenced to lengthy prison terms in Equatorial Guinea, where they remain in prison.
Mann, who was due to be released on good behaviour this week after serving three years of his sentence, was mysteriously released on Wednesday morning by the prisons service, prompting suspicions that he might be whisked out of the country.
”He was released unexpectedly today [Wednesday]. We fear it may be a move by the Zimbabwean government to unlawfully extradite him. Anything is possible,” said Samkange.
According to Samkange, prison authorities explained that they were preparing to release Mann on Wednesday because they discovered that there had been an error in his release date, which had originally been set as May 11. He was immediately detained at the same prison under immigration charges ordering his deportation.
Samkange told journalists that the early release plan was ”political” and that officials from Equatorial Guinea had recently held numerous meetings with Zimbabwean government officials to discuss what he believed to be plans to take his client out of the country. ”They may spring the applicant out of the country,” he said.
Mann was visited by officials from Equatorial Guinea a number of times and claims to have been tortured by state agents while in Zimbabwean custody. There are strong suspicions that the Zimbabwean government has made a deal with Equatorial Guinea to extradite Mann in exchange for oil.
Mann — who remains at Chikurubi Maximum Security prison — wasn’t brought to court this week for security reasons, but will remain in custody pending the finalisation of his appeal.
If extradited to Equatorial Guinea, Mann will face charges of conspiring to overthrow the Nguema government. Jose Olo Obono, the Equatorial Guinean Attorney General, gave the court guarantees that Mann would not face the death sentence.
Samkange told the court he was ”shocked” by the ruling and accused the magistrate, Omega Mugumbate, of failing to consider key issues such as various human rights groups’ concerns that Mann would not receive a fair trial in Equatorial Guinea.
In her verdict, Mugumbate ruled that Mann would receive a fair trial as the government of Equatorial Guinea had said it would ask the African Union to provide an impartial judge to oversee the trial.
”These guarantees are not worth the paper they are written on,” Samkange told the court.
Samkange has lodged an appeal with the high court, which could be heard in the next two weeks. ”Prospects for success are high; there are many issues the magistrate overlooked,” he said.
The state opposed Samkange’s request for bail, saying the chances of Mann absconding were quite high given that the ”likelihood of him being extradited was very real, and he is likely to face a lengthy prison term”.