Luanda Trial

Encyclopedia : L : LU : LUA : Luanda Trial

The Luanda Trial was a trial held in Luanda in 1976 by the MPLA, recently victorious in the Angolan Civil War to try thirteen foreign mercenaries who had fought for its rival, the FNLA.[1976: Death sentence for mercenaries] BBC On this day June 28

Guilty verdicts for all or some of 130 separate offenses, released on June 28, 1976, resulted in the following sentences^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}:
16 years' imprisonment for:
Briton John Nammock
Briton Malcom McIntyre
American Gary Acker
24 years' imprisonment for:
Briton Lawlor
Briton Evans
Briton "Satch" Fortuin
30 years' imprisonment for:
Briton Wiseman
Briton Marchant
American Gus Grillo

Execution by firing squad for:

Briton Costas Georgiou
Briton Andy MacKenzie
Briton "Brummy" Barker
American Danial Gearheart

The four condemned men were executed on July 10, 1976 by MPLA military police. According to witnesses, Georgiou and MacKenzie died bravely, like the trained soldiers they were. MacKenzie, who had been seriously wounded in the leg and confined to a wheelchair, stood himself up on his remaining good leg to face the hail of bullets. By contrast, Gearheart and Barker both cried and begged their executioners for mercy.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

The two remaining American prisoners, Grillo and Acker, were released from prison in 1982 in a prisoner exchange worked out by the United States Department of State. The British prisoners were released in 1984 after eight years of negotiation by the British Foreign Office.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

The prisoners had a chance to leave prison during a 1977 coup attempt, when their guards offered to free them if they would become their leaders in the rebellion. All ten men chose to remain in their cells; fortunately for them, for the coup was brutally put down^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}. A similar chance was offered, and declined, to the men imprisoned after Mike Hoare's attempted counter-coup against President René of the Seychelles^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}.

References

[BBC article on the Luanda Trial] BBC On this day 11 June.

Footnotes

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.