Mercenary suspects seek freedom

CHIKURUBI PRISON – Lawyers for 70 suspected mercenaries accused of plotting a coup in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea said yesterday that they will be asking a makeshift prison court to release the men next week.

Defence attorney Jonathan Samkange said the men denied any wrongdoing in Zimbabwe. “There is no reasonable basis for them to be further remanded,” he said.The suspects were detained when their aging Boeing 727 landed at Harare International Airport on March 7.They appeared yesterday before Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe, who adjourned the hearing until April 23.Most of the suspects – who include South Africans, Namibians, Angolans, Congolese, a Zimbabwean and a British national – are former members of South Africa’s apartheid-era military forces.Another 14 suspected mercenaries are in custody in the west African country.Human rights groups say they believe at least one of the suspects in Equatorial Guinea custody has been tortured to death.- Nampa-AP”There is no reasonable basis for them to be further remanded,” he said.The suspects were detained when their aging Boeing 727 landed at Harare International Airport on March 7.They appeared yesterday before Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe, who adjourned the hearing until April 23.Most of the suspects – who include South Africans, Namibians, Angolans, Congolese, a Zimbabwean and a British national – are former members of South Africa’s apartheid-era military forces.Another 14 suspected mercenaries are in custody in the west African country.Human rights groups say they believe at least one of the suspects in Equatorial Guinea custody has been tortured to death.- Nampa-AP