Arms dealer du Toit gets 34-year sentence for coup attempt

SOUTH African arms dealer Nick du Toit, who has been linked to Mark Thatcher, was jailed for 34 years in Equatorial Guinea yesterday for his part in a failed coup.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty for the man they said led an advance team for an internationally-backed plot to overthrow the oil-rich West African nation's president.

Six South Africans and six Armenians were convicted and jailed, while the court in the capital Malabo acquitted three South Africans and three locals.

The alleged coup attempt foiled in March has also drawn in the son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and scores of accused mercenaries in southern Africa.

Equatorial Guinea alleges Thatcher and other, mainly British, financiers commissioned the bid to overthrow the 25-year regime of President Teodoro Obiang. Plotters intended to install an opposition politician as the figurehead leader of Africa's third largest oil producer, Equatorial Guinea charges say.

Thatcher charged in South Africa in connection with the alleged conspiracy and all others deny any involvement.

Du Toit initially gave detailed testimony of plans of alleged conspirators, while insisting his co-defendants in Equatorial Guinea knew nothing of any plot.

Earlier this month he retracted his testimony, saying he agreed to parrot a false confession only to try to save himself and the others from death.

Prosecutors afterwards reaffirmed their request for the death penalty for du Toit.

Equatorial Guinea has one of the world's worst human rights records, with the US State Department and others accusing it of routine torture.

The International Bar Association has questioned the independence of the court system, accusing Obiang of interfering in trials.

The accused coup conspirators had been held in chains without interruption since their arrests, and several said in court they had been tortured.

A Cape Town magistrate yesterday postponed a Thatcher court appearance to give his lawyers time to appeal a high court judgment requiring him to answer questions from Equatorial Guinea about the coup. He had been ordered by a high court to appear in magistrates court to answer the questions posed by Equatorial Guinea.

Magistrate Helen Alman postponed the appearance until February 18 to give Thatcher's lawyers time to appeal the high court ruling.