Thatcher to face coup questions

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BBC News

Sir Mark Thatcher has been ordered by a South African court to face questions set by Equatorial Guinea investigators over a failed coup in the African state.

The subpoena will see the son of the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher questioned under oath in a Cape Town court on Friday.

Sir Mark, 51, denies any involvement in the plot, which was thwarted in March.

He was arrested in August at his home in South Africa and released after a bail payment of £167,000 ($314,000) was posted.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4037857.stm

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1. Court upholds subpoena against Thatcher in E Guinea coup plot

ChannelNews Asia

CAPE TOWN : The Cape High Court ruled that Mark Thatcher must answer questions under oath from Equatorial Guinea on an alleged coup plot that he is accused of bankrolling.

Judge Deon van Zyl upheld a decision by the South African justice ministry to allow questions from prosecutors to be put to the son of the former British prime minister in open court.

"No case for relief has been made out," said Van Zyl.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/118831/1/.html

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2. THATCHER LAWYERS TO CONSIDER APPEAL

Reuters:

Thatcher's lawyer Alan Bruce-Brand told Reuters his counsel would meet later in the day to decide whether to appeal.

"That was a long judgment, but the most important thing is that it reaffirmed my right to silence," Thatcher said on the steps of the courthouse after the ruling.

Thatcher's lawyers had argued questioning was merely a precursor to extradition and aimed at assisting that process.

The court said no extradition request had been made and ruled that South African Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla had acted within her rights in seeking Thatcher's responses to the Equatorial Guinea questions.

http://www.reuters.co.uk/newsPackageArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=626774§ion=news

[Voltaire99]

3. Is there any hope of this ponce being executed?

Only pity is they don't have the Old Bitch, too.