Zimbabwe has dropped charges against the lawyer representing former British special forces officer Simon Mann, state media reported on Wednesday.
Mann is fighting extradition to Equatorial Guinea to face coup-plot charges. His lawyer, Jonathan Samkange, was arrested on Monday night for allegedly falsifying information on a visa application for a witness in the case.
The official Herald newspaper said prosecutors had indicated to a magistrate’s court on Tuesday they were unable to proceed with the case for lack of evidence against Samkange.
Samkange told a court hearing last month that Zimbabwe’s Immigration Department had frustrated his efforts to bring in witnesses from Equatorial Guinea.
Mann was arrested last week under an immigration warrant for deportation after completing a jail term imposed in 2004. He was denied bail and his lawyer is appealing against a court ruling to extradite him to Equatorial Guinea.
In September 2004, Mann was found guilty of trying to purchase weapons without a licence as part of a plot against Equatorial Guinean President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
Mann, who has been branded the ring leader in the coup plot, was arrested in Harare in March 2004 along with 66 other men, who served lesser sentences. — Reuters