Armenian pilots sentenced in Equatorial Guinea coup place appeal

Agence France Presse — English
December 7, 2004 Tuesday 12:20 AM GMT

YEREVAN Dec 7 — Six Armenian pilots who last month were given stiff
jail sentences by a court in Equatorial Guinea for plotting to oust
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema have appealed to that country’s supreme
court, a senior Armenian foreign ministry official said late Monday.

Although Armenia did not expect the appeal to be successful, this
would open the possibility of then turning to international instances
for help, Ambassador Sergei Manaserian told a press conference.

“We do not expect (the supreme court) to overrule the court’s verdict,
but this move will enable us to turn to international instances in
the near future,” said Manaserian, who heads the foreign ministry
delegation trying to obtain the pilots’ release.

“We hope to receive an answer from the supreme court within two
months,” said Manaserian, who added that the appeal had been placed
by the pilots’ lawyer.

Armenian President Robert Kocharian sent his Equatorial Guinean
counterpart a message asking him to pardon the pilots, or to extradite
them to Armenia, Manaserian added.

“Armenia is continuing to do all it can, including through bilateral
negotiations and negotiations with international organizations, to
secure the release of our fellow citizens, who are not guilty and have
absolutely nothing to do with the attempted coup in that country,”
Manaserian said.

Two of the pilots were suffering from malaria and typhoid fever,
he said.

The six Armenian pilots were arrested last March. Three of them were
sentenced to 24 years in jail, while the other three received a 14
year sentence.

Five south Africans also received jail sentences for plotting against
the Equatorial Guinean authorities, and eight members of a government
in exile set up in Spain, Equatorial Guinea’s former colonial ruler,
were tried in their absence and sentenced to 52 years in prison each.

Exiled Equatorial Guinean opposition leader Severo Moto was sentenced
in his absence to 64 years in jail and fined two billion CFA francs
(three million euros).

The son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, Mark,
was also heard by a South African court for allegedly bankrolling
the conspiracy.

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.

Armenia slammed the verdict, saying the court had produced no proof
of the Armenians’ guilt.