Zimbabwe: Leader of Suspected Mercenaries Pleads Guilty to Weapons Charge

[seemslikeadream]

VOA News
28 Jul 2004, 15:48 UTC


AP
A group of alleged mercenaries are led to a hall at Chikurubi maximum prison in Harare
A former British army officer Simon Mann faces up to 10 years in jail in Zimbabwe after he pleaded guilty Wednesday to violating security laws. All but three of 70 suspected mercenaries accused by the government of plotting against Equatorial Guinea have pleaded guilty to lesser charges.
Mr. Mann pleaded not guilty to charges of violating firearms laws, but his lawyer Jonathan Samkange entered a guilty plea to a lesser charge of attempting to buy arms of war.

Of the remaining suspects, 67 had pleaded guilty earlier to charges of breaking immigration and aviation laws when they landed at the airport.

All were convicted and await sentencing.

The plea came on the second day of a trial in a makeshift courtroom in the grounds of Zimbabwe's maximum security prison, where Mr. Mann and 69 men he allegedly hired, have been detained for nearly five months.

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