Former British special forces officer Simon Mann will go on trial in Equatorial Guinea, charged with plotting to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, the government said on Thursday.
”He will receive a fair trial with all procedural and institutional guarantees,” a government statement said.
It was the first official acknowledgment by Equatorial Guinea of Mann’s extradition transfer last week from Zimbabwe, where he had been in prison.
The statement, published by state media, said Mann would be tried for his ”his abortive mercenary coup against the regime and democratic institutions of Equatorial Guinea in 2004”.
Mann was arrested in March 2004 when he met a plane carrying dozens of men and military equipment, which landed in Zimbabwe’s capital, Harare, on what officials said was the first stop on their way to launching a coup against Obiang. — Reuters