Zimbabwe Frees 62 Coup Suspects
JOHANNESBURG, May 15 - Zimbabwean authorities on Sunday belatedly freed 62 suspected mercenaries whom it had jailed 14 months ago after their jet stopped in Harare, apparently to pick up weapons for a coup in Equatorial Guinea.
The coup's collapse in March 2004 created an international sensation. Its sponsors remain unidentified, but a number of well-known figures, including the British soldier of fortune Simon Mann and Sir Mark Thatcher, son of Margaret Thatcher, the former British prime minister, were said to have been involved.
The 62, all but one South Africans or Namibians, were convicted of immigration and weapons violations. They were to have been freed in March after serving two-thirds of their 18-month sentences, Zimbabwean newspapers reported, but the government repeatedly delayed their release. News services reported that one of the 62, a man from Zimbabwe, remained there after his release. The rest were escorted across the South African border, looking wan and gaunt.
The men apparently were to have been the muscle in a plot to seize power in Equatorial Guinea, on Central Africa's west coast, whose dictator, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, became rich on oil discoveries in the mid-1990's. Most of the nation's 500,000 people are destitute.
Equatorial Guinea arrested an additional 18 to 20 suspected plotters, and claimed that the attempt had been supported by a political opponent in exile in Spain, Severo Moto. Mr. Moto has denied involvement.
South Africa charged that the scheme had been financed partly by Sir Mark, a South Africa resident and a friend of Mr. Mann. Sir Mark denied knowingly supporting the plot, saying he believed that he was investing in an air-ambulance business. But in January, he pleaded guilty to supporting foreign military activities and paid a $500,000 fine.
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