Du Toit gets 34 years’ jail for Guinea coup plot
By Raymond Whitaker in Cape Town
The Independent – United Kingdom
Nov 27, 2004
A COURT in Equatorial Guinea found Nick du Toit, a South African
former special forces soldier, guilty of a plot to overthrow the
President of the oil-rich country and sentenced him to 34 years
in prison yesterday. Sir Mark Thatcher and several other prominent
Britons have been implicated in the failed coup attempt.
Prosecutors in Equatorial Guinea had sought the death penalty for du
Toit, who confessed to leading an advance guard for the abortive coup
before retracting his statement, saying he had been tortured. Four
other South Africans and six Armenian aircrew were jailed for long
terms.
The collapse in March of the plan to oust Equatorial Guinea’s
President, Teodoro Obiang, and replace him with an opposition
politician in return for lucrative oil contracts has led to criminal
trials in three countries.
Simon Mann, an Old Etonian former SAS officer has been jailed for
seven years in Zimbabwe for illegal arms buying, along with more
than 60 South Africans who were intercepted at Harare airport while
allegedly on their way to Equatorial Guinea.
South Africa’s elite Scorpions detective unit arrested Sir Mark in
August and charged him with helping to finance the plot, but this week
the case was postponed until April to give investigators more time.
Lawyers acting for President Obiang were due to question Sir Mark
yesterday on his alleged part in the affair, but a Cape Town magistrate
agreed to defer the issue while he seeks leave to appeal.