Suspected mercenaries absolved

All except one of the 67 suspected mercenaries held in Zimbabwe were absolved on Friday of attempting to procure arms for an alleged coup in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. Briton Simon Mann, who pleaded guilty to the charge, faces sentencing on 10 September. Mann is one of the founders of Executive Outcomes, a security firm that closed down in 1999. The state has asked for a sentence of between five and 15 years in prison for Mann, who has also been linked to Mark Thatcher, son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher. Mark Thatcher was arrested in South Africa this week for allegedly financing the coup attempt and is out on Rand 2 million (almost US $300,000) bail. The suspected mercenaries, along with three flight-crew members, were arrested on 7 March on board a plane that landed at Harare International airport, and charged with violating the Public Order and Security Act, the Firearms Act and the Immigration Act. All of them hold South African passports. The suspects' lawyer, Jonathan Samakange, told IRIN the 66 men had pleaded guilty to violating the Immigration Act and were likely to be fined when the magistrate handed down sentences on 10 September. The men have maintained that they were contracted to guard mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. According to news agencies, Magistrate Mishrod Guvamombe ruled that Mann's action amounted at most to an attempt to purchase firearms. Regarding the 66 accused, he reportedly found that the state had failed to prove their guilt conclusively. The detainees have been linked to 15 suspected coup plotters arrested in Equatorial Guinea, one of whom has since died. Their trial began last week in Malabo, capital of Equatorial Guinea, with the prosecutor announcing that he would call for the death penalty for South African Nick du Toit, the alleged leader of the coup-plotters.