Simon Mann sentenced to 34 years in prison, lawyer says he was 'cheated'
Updated on 07 July 2008
British mercenary Simon Mann is sentenced to 34 years in jail for his part in a failed coup.
A defence lawyer told Channel 4 News that Simon Mann was "cheated into telling the truth".
Fabian Nguema, the defence lawyer for six of the men tried alongside Simon Mann, said that "there have been many gaps in the judicial process."
Asked if it was an usual process for Simon Mann to provide most of the evidence regarding his own involvement: that he wasn't questioned or cross-examined and there were no witnesses called, Nguema replied:
"They'll promise nothing will happen to you, the president is going to pardon you, and so on....Was Mann cheated into telling the truth? We know that's what has happened."
Asked if the trial had been fair and transparent Mr Nguema said: "Well, that's the way the president sees it. But for us lawyers, we've seen that there have been many gaps in this judicial process."
Nguema added: "It might have been a great PR campaign for the president, giving him a propaganda victory. I hope not. We really don't want him to benefit from this by showing the world how he's done the right thing. But in the end it's the people that will suffer at the hands of the state".
The former SAS officer was found guilty of being one of the plotters in an attempt to topple the president and government of Equatorial Guinea, a tiny west African state, but one with vast oil reserves.
Simon Mann was arrested along with 66 suspected mercenaries and a cargo of military equipment in Zimbabwe in March 2004. He spent four years in jail there before being extradited, he claims illegally, to Equatorial Guinea earlier this year.
