Stiff prison terms for Equatorial Guinea coup plotters
11-26-2004, 19h28

Agence France Presse
Nov 26 2004

Desirey Minkoh – (AFP/File)

MALABO (AFP) – A court in Equatorial Guinea gave stiff jail sentences
to five South Africans and six Armenians arrested nine months ago for
plotting to oust President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, and to an opposition
leader and his government-in-exile for allegedly masterminding
the plot.

Three other South Africans were acquitted, along with three
Equato-Guineans out of five also on trial.

South African Nick du Toit was found guilty of organising the logistics
for the plot that saw suspects hauled in across Africa, including the
son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher for allegedly
bankrolling the conspiracy.

Du Toit was jailed for 34 years and fined 1.3 billion CFA francs
(around two million dollars, euros), while exiled opposition leader
Severo Moto was sentenced in his absence to 64 years in jail and
fined two billion CFA francs.

The attorney general of the tiny, oil-rich west African state last
week recommended that du Toit and Moto be sentenced to death, while
Obiang, who himself came to power in a putsch, vowed that “exemplary
sentences” would be imposed.

Du Toit has been held in the notorious Black Beach prison in Equatorial
Guinea’s capital Malabo since his arrest in February and was in court
to hear the verdict.

A former officer in South Africa’s special forces under apartheid,
the 48-year-old businessman admitted when he first went on trial
that he played a minor role in a plot to oust Obiang, but he later
retracted his statement.

Three of the Armenians, members of an air crew who flew shipments of
freight around Africa, were jailed for 24 years, the other three for
14 years, sparking protests from Yerevan.

Two of the Equato-Guineans were jailed for one year.

Eight members of a government in exile set up by Moto in Spain,
Equatorial Guinea’s former colonial ruler, were tried in their absence
and sentenced to 52 years in prison each.

Obiang’s regime, which has ruled since 1979 with an iron hand over
one of the world’s poorest countries turned major oil producer,
announced it had foiled a complex coup bid in March, which appeared to
have tentacles reaching across Africa and into Europe and the former
Soviet bloc.

Du Toit and his co-defendants were to guide a group of mercenaries
supposed to fly in from Zimbabwe to their targets in Equatorial Guinea,
the prosecution said.

The alleged mercenaries were arrested in Harare on March 7 and one
of them, Briton Simon Mann, was sentenced to seven years in jail in
Zimbabwe in September for attempting to buy weapons to be used in
the coup.

Sixty-seven other suspected mercenaries were sentenced to 12 to
16 months.

Thatcher, a friend of Mann, was arrested in August at his luxury home
in Cape Town, South Africa, and accused of contributing 275,000 dollars
(230,000 euros) to help finance the plot.

The 51-year-old son of the former British prime minister made three
appearances in South African courts this week only to hear the judges
set new dates, early next year, for hearings.

He has also been ordered to answer questions under oath from
prosecutors in Equatorial Guinea and will spend the coming months
confined to Cape Town.

While Du Toit initially said he carried out a minor logistics role
at the behest of Mann, he later retracted his confession, saying it
had been extracted under torture.

All the other defendants in Malabo categorically denied any involvement
in a coup plot. One of the defendants, a German, died in prison.

South Africa said it accepted the judgement against Du Toit and
the other South Africans, while Du Toit’s family said they were too
distraught to react.

“We are in shock and not sure yet exactly what is going on,” his
daughter, Marlise Bezuidenhout, 22, told AFP.

In Yerevan the foreign ministry slammed the verdict, saying, “we are
absolutely certain that the Armenian aircrew had nothing to do with
the attempted acts against the leadership of Equatorial Guinea.”

It said the court had produced no proof of the Armenians’ guilt,
adding that their lawyer would appeal.