Zimbabwe charges 'mercenaries'

The plane has been moved to a Zimbabwean military base

Zimbabwe has charged 70 men, alleged to be mercenaries, with immigration and firearms violations.

The men were detained after their plane was impounded in the Zimbabwean capital of Harare eight days ago.

Zimbabwe has accused the group of planning a coup in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea. A government minister has said the men could face the death penalty.

The men's lawyer, Jonathan Samkange, said they denied all the charges and had been hired to work as security guards in DR Congo.

They are expected in court this week.

Weapons

Zimbabwean officials had said that the charges against them would include destabilising an independent and sovereign government.

Equatorial Guinea and its president have a long history of coups

However, Mr Samkange said Zimbabwe did not have a law under which alleged offenders could be prosecuted for an attempted coup in another country.

The 67 men who arrived by plane are charged with contravening the immigration and firearms acts, by failing to report to an immigration officer on arrival, and "attempting to conspire to buy guns" - not capital offences.

The three on the ground, including British ex-SAS man Simon Mann, are being charged with actually buying firearms from a state-owned company without a licence.

If convicted the sentence would be between 5-10 years.

But lawyers say their clients signed a contract with the arms manufacturer to buy the weapons, to use in the security of the Congolese diamond mine, so say the charges are "absurd".

History of coups

Zimbabwe and South Africa both suspect that the men were part of a plot to overthrow the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema.

Equatorial Guinea: Ripe for coup Who are the detained men?

Harare has accused the men of working for US, British and Spanish intelligence agencies, claims which have been denied.

The group of detained men consisted of about 20 South Africans, and also Angolans, Namibians, Congolese, one Zimbabwean national and a British national, South African newspapers reported.

Equatorial Guinea's president said South Africa had warned him that a group of mercenaries was heading for his country and he suggested that they had had foreign backing of hostile foreign powers and multinational firms.

A man said to be the leader of the "mercenaries" appeared on Equatorial Guinea state television to say that they had been part of a plot to remove Mr Obiang and put an exiled opposition leader in power.

In Spain, Severo Moto, who led a failed coup bid in Equatorial Guinea in 1997, denied any role in the alleged plot.