'Mercenaries' to face trial away from home

THE alleged mercenaries being led to court recently

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By Agencies

A SOUTH African court has denied a request to bring 70 men held by Zimbabwe as suspected mercenaries home to face trial, rejecting lawyers' arguments they will not get a fair hearing in Harare.

Pretoria High Court Judge President Bernard Ngoepe said the demand for an official extradition request by defence lawyers exceeded the court's jurisdiction.

He said that the matter should be left to the South African and Zimbabwe governments.

"There is no evidence that the Government has done nothing in resolving the matter," he said.

"It is not for us to decide where they must stand trial."

The men, arrested in Zimbabwe in March, are accused of being linked to another group being held in Equatorial Guinea on charges of plotting to topple the Government of the tiny oil-rich West African state.

The men, all of whom carry South African passports, deny the charges and say they are a security detail on their way to guard mining operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Defence lawyer Francois Joubert says he plans to appeal the decision to South Africa's Constitutional Court, the country's highest judicial authority.

He says the ruling leaves the men at risk of being sent for trial in Equatorial Guinea, where they could face the death penalty -- Reuters
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