Mercenaries to be freed from Zimbabwe jail

More than 60 South Africans jailed in Zimbabwe last year for their involvement in a botched coup attempt in Equatorial Guinea are due to be released following a court decision to reduce their 12-month sentence.

South African foreign ministry spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa said he expected the accused mercenaries to leave prison and to be flown home today.

But the lawyer for the 64 men said the process would likely take longer.

“I very much doubt they’ll be released today, because they are going to be deported back to South Africa,” said Alwyn Griebenow, adding that paperwork and air tickets still had to be arranged.

The Zimbabwean High Court yesterday upheld an appeal to reduce their 12-month sentences by four months.

“Wednesday’s court ruling of a four-month reduction for them means they have done their time,” said Mamoepa. The men were originally due to be released in May.

Both Mamoepa and Griebenow said alleged mercenary leader Simon Mann remained in Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison.

He was convicted last August for security and firearms violations after being found guilty of trying to buy weapons from the state arms maker for a coup attempt in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. He was initially sentenced to seven years detention but that was reduced to four years on appeal.

Mann, a former British special forces soldier, and 69 other mercenary suspects were arrested as their plane landed at Harare International airport on March 7 last year. Four of them were released and one died from an unspecified illness in the Chikurubi jail.

The two pilots were sentenced to 16 months – and still remain in prison - while the rest were sentenced to 12 months for relatively minor immigration and aviation violations. Most of them served in the South African armed forces in the apartheid era.

During their trial, prosecutors in Zimbabwe accused the group of heading to Equatorial Guinea to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang. The men insisted they were headed to Congo to guard mining installations.

Equatorial Guinea has sentenced 24 other suspected mercenaries from European and African nations to lengthy jail terms there.

The son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Mark Thatcher, pleaded guilty in South Africa earlier this year of unwittingly helping to finance the plot.

Griebenow said the mercenaries’ troubles weren’t over.

“They will stand trial in South Africa for contravening the Foreign Military Assistance Act,” he said.

“I think the evidence against them in South Africa is overwhelming, we’ve entered into a plea bargaining arrangement with the authorities here,” he said.