Mann sentenced to 34 years in coup plot

MALABO, Equatorial Guinea, July 8 (UPI) -- British mercenary Simon Mann began serving a 34-year sentence Tuesday for plotting in 2004 to overthrow the president of Equatorial Guinea.

The Eton-educated Mann received the sentence during a court hearing Monday in the country's capital of Malabo after confessing he led a group of mostly South African soldiers of fortune in a plot to overthrow President Teodoro Obiang Nguemo and replace him with an exiled rival, The Times of London reported.

Mann, 55, said during the trial he was wrong to attempt the coup and pointed a finger at Mark Thatcher, son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and reclusive London tycoon Ely Calil as the masterminds of the plot. Mann said Thatcher was part of the "management team" and not an "unwitting" financier as he has claimed, the Times reported.

Speculation was rampant in Malabo that Mann had struck a secret deal with Obiang to make the statements in return for a pardon to be delivered after a few years in Equatorial Guinea's notorious Black Beach prison, the newspaper said.