Mail & Guardian Online , South Africa
Aug 23 2004

Call for death penalty for SA ‘mercenary’

Malabo, Equatorial Guinea

The prosecutor in the trial of a group of suspected foreign
mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea said on
Monday he will call for the death penalty for the coup plotters’
alleged leader, South African Nick du Toit.

Attorney General Jose olo Obono also said at the start of the trial
that he will call for prison terms ranging from 26 years to 86 years
for the South African’s co-defendants.

Du Toit and 13 other suspected mercenaries from South Africa and
Armenia appeared in court on Monday, along with four Equatorial
Guinean defendants, on charges of plotting to oust the long-time
leader of the Central African country, President Teodoro Obiang
Nguema.

The eight South Africans, six Armenians and four Equato-Guineans,
including former economic planning minister Antonio Javier Nguema
Nchama, were charged with “crimes against the head of state, against
the form of government” and “crimes which compromise peace and
independence of the state, treason, illegal possession of arms and
ammunition, terrorism and possessing explosives”.

The involvement of the Equato-Guineans in the alleged plot to topple
Obiang, who has ruled the tiny Central African state since 1979, was
not mentioned until the court case got under way.

Obiang announced the arrests of the alleged mercenaries in early
March, saying they had been hired by exiled opposition leader Severo
Moto to oust him.

Handcuffed and in leg irons, the accused were brought by military
vehicles to the international conference hall in Banapa, a suburb of
Malabo, which has been transformed into a makeshift courtroom for the
trial.

About 80 people, including two of the suspected mercenaries’ wives,
human-rights activists and foreign diplomats, were in the public
gallery for the trial.

The South African and Armenian suspects have been held at Malabo’s
notorious Black Beach prison since March. Their arrests coincided
almost to the day with that of 70 suspected mercenaries detained at
Harare International airport in Zimbabwe following a tip-off from the
South African government.

The men in Equatorial Guinea, led by South African Nick du Toit, were
allegedly an advance group responsible for the preparations of the
coup d’état before the arrival of the 70 suspected soldiers of
fortune who took off from South Africa and stopped in Zimbabwe to
pick up weapons.

Family members of the men held in Equatorial Guinea say the suspects
have been tortured.

Fifteen foreign suspects were arrested on March 6 in Malabo, but one,
German Eugen Nershz, died on March 17, with the Equato-Guinean
authorities saying the cause of death was cerebral malaria.

But Amnesty International has said Nershz “died … apparently as a
result of torture”.

Three more men have since contracted malaria. Two have recovered but
a third is still ill.

The men have for most of their incarceration been held incommunicado,
according to Amnesty International, and two wives from South Africa
were only allowed to visit them for the first time earlier this
month.

A verdict is expected next week, defence lawyer Lucie Bourthomieux said