Zimbabwe has charged 70 suspected mercenaries with conspiring to murder the president of Equatorial Guinea in what it said was a plot to topple the government of the oil-rich African state, their lawyer said Wednesday.
“They were charged yesterday with attempting to murder the president of Equatorial Guinea and his bodyguards. There is also some indication that they could be charged under the Public Order and Security Act (POSA),” lawyer Jonathan Samkange said.
“This is really a fictional charge. I would not want to speculate at this point what the penalty would be,” he added, saying it was unclear when his clients would appear in court.
The state has already charged the men under Zimbabwe’s immigration and firearms laws after authorities seized their plane in Harare on March 7 and accused them of plotting to oust Equatorial Guinea President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
Death penalty possible
Those charges attract a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail, although Zimbabwe officials have indicated the men could face more severe penalties — including possibly death — under other charges authorities are studying.
Zimbabwe’s Public Order and Security Act, enacted in 2002, provides for a variety of charges relating to crimes deemed to threaten state security.
The plane’s operator says the group was due to provide legitimate mine security in the Democratic Republic of Congo and has been caught up in a bureaucratic misunderstanding.
The planned trial of the suspects could raise embarrassing questions for the government over their reported bid to buy weapons illegally from the state, defense analysts say.
Mugabe's role pondered
The key question will center on what role Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s senior aides played in any plans to procure weapons from state-owned Zimbabwe Defense Industries (ZDI), a cash-strapped agency under the firm grip of the government.
Monday, acting Attorney General Bharat Patel said Zimbabwe could levy more charges against the group, which the government says includes South Africans, Namibians, Angolans, Congolese and a Zimbabwean with a South African passport.
Under Zimbabwe’s immigration laws, the men can be held for two weeks before a court hearing. The suspected mercenaries did not appear in court Wednesday, and no firm date has been set for their appearance.
Equatorial Guinea, sub-Saharan Africa’s third-largest oil producer, says it has arrested 20 men it says were part of a plot funded by foreign powers and multinational firms to put an exiled opposition politician living in Spain in power.
