SAS man to face coup trial
Government of Equatorial Guinea confirms former SAS officer accused of plotting a coup is to stand trial.
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Friday, 08, Feb 2008 11:22
The former SAS officer accused of plotting a coup in Equatorial Guinea is to stand trial, the country's government said yesterday.
Simon Mann was arrested along with 67 others in Harare, Zimbabwe in March 2004, charged with conspiring to depose the government of president Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
He has served a four-year prison sentence in Zimbabwe for arms charges and was immediately rearrested following his release in May last year due to the extradition warrant issued by Equatorial Guinea.
One of Mr Mann's co-accused has already been handed a 34-year jail sentence, while Sir Mark Thatcher, son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, was fined and received a suspended sentence for his involvement in the affair.
An official statement said yesterday that Mr Mann will stand trial for his role in the "abortive mercenary coup attempt ... in 2004".
It labelled him the "perpetrator of the operation that aimed to destabilise Equatorial Guinea through violence and terror" and stressed he would receive a "fair trial, with due process and institutional guarantees".
The 55-year-old Old Etonian was handcuffed and consigned to the Black Beach jail in Equatorial Guinea's capital Malabo.
Amanda Mann, the defendant's wife, has accused Mr Nguema of conspiring with Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe over the unwarranted moving of Mr Mann from prison in Zimbabwe.
"I believe that the government of Equatorial Guinea has conspired with elements of the Mugabe regime to have my husband kidnapped with complete disregard for his legal and human rights," Mrs Mann said after the court hearing.
"I fail entirely to understand how such a government, which has no regard for human rights or for the rule of law, can have the audacity to seek the assistance of the British legal system."
A spokesperson for the Foreign Office said Lord Malloch-Brown, the minister for Africa, had met the ambassador of Equatorial Guinea yesterday to discuss consular aspects of the case.
The ambassador assured Lord Malloch-Brown that his colleagues were making arrangements to allow British consul officials to visit Mr Mann and stressed that he would receive a fair trial, with proper judicial procedures followed.