Timeline: E Guinea 'coup plot'

Sir Mark was arrested in August 2004 in connection with the plot

Sir Mark Thatcher - the son of former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - has been fined three million rand ($500,000) and received a four-year suspended jail sentence for his part in an alleged coup plot in Equatorial Guinea.

Here are the significant events in the development of the case.

2004

7 March - Seventy mercenaries are arrested in Harare, Zimbabwe.

8 March - Authorities in Equatorial Guinea arrest 15 foreign mercenaries who allegedly came to prepare ground for a coup against president Obiang Nguema.

17 March - Men held in Zimbabwe are charged with conspiring to murder President Nguema.

23 August - Fourteen foreign mercenaries (and five local men) go on trial in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, accused of being an advanced party for the 70 mercenaries held in Zimbabwe.

25 August - Sir Mark, 51, is arrested at home by South African police in an early morning raid.

He appears at court where he is charged with violating South Africa's anti-mercenary law in connection with an alleged plot to topple the government of Equatorial Guinea.

Sir Mark is later placed under house arrest and protests he is "innocent of all charges" made against him.

27 August - It emerges that the government of Equatorial Guinea has asked for South Africa to extradite Sir Mark.

28 August - Equatorial Guinea says it is seeking international arrest warrants for Sir Mark and other Britons also implicated in the alleged plot.

31 August - The court in Equatorial Guinea suspends proceedings on prosecutors' requests for more information about the alleged role of Mark Thatcher and other British financiers.

1 September - Baroness Thatcher is reported to have posted the two million rand ($334,000) bail for her son who remains under house arrest in Cape Town.

3 September - Sir Mark is freed from house arrest after the bail bond is paid.

Baroness Thatcher posted bail for her son

6 September - South African authorities approve a request by Equatorial Guinea to question Sir Mark.

Equatorial Guinea's authorities say they could ask for Sir Mark's extradition from South Africa.

10 September - Harare court sentences British former special services officer Simon Mann to seven years in prison.

The court also hands 16 month sentences to the two pilots of a plane that landed in Zimbabwe carrying the suspected mercenaries. The 65 men who were on the plane, convicted of immigration offences, are given 12 month sentences

14 November - Equatorial Guinea demands further explanation following UK Home Secretary Jack Straw's parliamentary answer that the UK government had known about the coup plot "in late January 2004".

16 November - South African Nick du Toit trial starts in Malabo.

18 November - Equatorial Guinea confirms it has charged Sir Mark in connection with the alleged coup plot.

The African nation also reiterates it is seeking his extradition from South Africa.

Sir Mark is accused of having helped finance the coup attempt, according to the country's Attorney General Jose Olo Obono.

24 November - A Cape Town judge rules that Sir Mark will have to answer questions from Equatorial Guinea investigators.

In an interview with Vanity Fair magazine the businessman says he is being "destroyed" by the charges.

He says: "I will never be able to do business again. Who will deal with me?"

25 November - Sir Mark's trial, on charges that he helped finance the failed alleged coup, is due to start but is postponed until April.

26 November - A hearing which will see Sir Mark answer questions from Equatorial Guinea investigators is postponed to give his lawyers time to appeal against the ruling requiring him to speak to the officials.

2005

13 January - Sir Mark appears in court in South Africa where he pleads guilty over his part in the alleged plot.

The businessman, who denies any knowledge of the plot, admits breaking anti-mercenary legislation in South Africa by agreeing to charter a helicopter and agrees a plea bargain with prosecutors.

He is fined three million rand.

Simon Mann's lawyer says his client's sentence has been reduced from seven to four years on appeal.