Briton gets 34 years for botched coup
By RODRIGO ANGUE NGUEMA
The Associated Press
2008-07-07
MALABO, Equatorial Guinea - A court in Equatorial Guinea convicted former British officer Simon Mann on Monday of being the key player in a failed 2004 coup plot in this Central African nation and sentenced him to 34 years and four months in prison.
Judge Carlos Mangue upbraided the 55-year-old Briton, saying he "had failed to show an attitude of regret" despite his apology before the court. To underline his point, the judge gave Mann a prison sentence four years longer than the prosecution had asked for.
"Simon Mann is the principal person at the origin of the preparation, the organization and the execution of this attempted coup," Mangue said.
During the trial last week, Mann acknowledged that he knowingly took part in the attempt to topple the government. His lawyer, however, argued that Mann was a secondary player and not the author of the botched 2004 coup try.
Although most of its people are poor and its land area is small, Equatorial Guinea is Africa's No. 3 oil producer. The prosecution charged that Mann and the other coup plotters intended to install exiled opposition leader Severo Moto at the helm in exchange for a share of the nation's oil wealth.
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More on the story and the involvement of Mark Thatcher, son of former British PM Margaret Thatcher - click on the title link.
Equatorial Guinea is an important country, not for its size or importance for strategic value, but for oil.
Worth paying attention to.
(The fact I state its importance as an oil producer, does not in any way minimize the human beings who suffer under corruption and crimes that can only be designated as crimes against humanity. Rather, it is oil that underlies the corruption and evil - it is the lifeblood of those who kill.)
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