Four South Africa men convicted for their role in an Equatorial Guinea coup plot will not be re-arrested when they return home, officials say.“They have been punished for their action,” said deputy international relations minister Ibrahim Ibrahim.
The group, along with former British mercenary Simon Mann were pardoned by Equatorial Guinea’s leader this week.
Mercenary activities are banned in South Africa, but a person cannot serve a jail term twice for the same offence.
After the prisoners’ release, one of the South Africans, Nick du Toit, said they had been told South Africa’s president had been involved in the negotiations.
Their release coincided with a visit to Equatorial Guinea by South African President Jacob Zuma.
“The president [of Equatorial Guinea] said: ‘I am one of those who have been taught by [Nelson] Mandela, that as Africans we must forgive,’” Mr Zuma said.
Du Toit was arrested in Equatorial Guinea at the same time as Mann was arrested in Zimbabwe in March 2004, along with more than 60 other South Africans.
They were suspected of being mercenaries intent on toppling Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
Mann served three years in a Zimbabwean jail before being extradited to Equatorial Guinea in 2008 where he was tried and convicted.
He admitted conspiring to oust President Obiang, but said he had only been “a pawn” in the plot.
Before leaving Equatorial Guinea, Mann, expressed regret for his part in the foiled coup.