Equatorial Guinea’s state prosecutor asked a court on Tuesday to sentence British mercenary Simon Mann to nearly 32 years in prison for his role in a failed 2004 coup.
On the first day of Mann’s trial in Malabo, the case presented by the West African state’s public prosecutor Jose Olo Obono also named Mark Thatcher, son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, as one of the organisers of the abortive plot to topple President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
Mann, an Eton-educated former SAS soldier, was arrested in Zimbabwe in 2004 with 70 mercenaries en route to Equatorial Guinea. He was extradited from Zimbabwe to Malabo earlier this year.
He said in a TV interview broadcast in Britain in March that he plotted to oust Obiang. He is charged with crimes against the head of state, crimes against the government and crimes against the peace and independence of the Equatorial Guinean state.
Mann’s lawyer, Jose Pablo Nuo, said his client was a ”mere instrument” in the coup and not one of the principal organisers.
The hearing was adjourned and would resume on Wednesday.
‘Dirty player, dubious deals’
In an interview with the Guardian Obiang said he believed that one of the alleged financiers of the coup — the Lebanese trader living in London, Ely Calil — ”is trying his very best to ensure that he either kills him or kidnaps him from prison. He doesn’t want Simon Mann to continue revealing issues or charges which can be levelled against him”.
Calil, an oil trader, has always denied being involved.
Obiang said other security measures included Mann’s food being scrutinised — presumably for poison — and access granted only to selected personnel.
Referring to Thatcher, Obiang said: ”He is known as a dirty player. He lived his life getting involved in all sorts of dubious deals. He was a friend of Simon Mann and expected huge benefits. Mark Thatcher quickly jumped on the boat and became part and parcel of this plot.”
In a plea bargain in South Africa, Thatcher was fined and given a suspended sentence in 2005 for helping to buy a helicopter that he accepted might have been used in mercenary activity. – Reuters, Guardian