Luanda mercenary trial
The Luanda mercenary Trial took place in Luanda, Angola from 11 June to 28 June 1976.[1][2] It involved 13 foreign mercenaries who had been captured by Angolan government forces while fighting for the FNLA in February 1976.[3]
The trial concluded on 28 June with four of the prisoners sentenced to death, while the others received sentances of between 16 and 30 years.[4]
Gearhart, Georgiou, McKenzie Barker were executed by firing squad on 10 July, after Angolan President Agostinho Neto confirmed the death sentences passed by the tribunal on June 28, in spite of appeals for clemency from Queen Elizabeth, the International Commission of Jurists and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.[5]
Acker and Grillo were released on 15 November 1982 as part of a prisoner exchange. The remaining seven men were released in February 1984.[6]
Defendants
- Gary Martin Acker
- Daniel Francis Gearhart
- Gustavo Marcelo Grillo
- Andrew Gordon McKenzie
- John Derek Barger
- Malcolm MacIntyre
- Cecil Martin Fortuin
- Kevin John Marchant
- Michael Douglas Wiseman
- John Lawlor
- Colin Clifford Evans
- Costas Georgiou
- John James Nammock[7]
External Resources
House of Commons Debates 29 June 1976, vol 914, cc205-10.
Notes
- ↑ 1976: Mercenaries trial begins in Angola, On this Day - 11 June, BBC News, accessed 1 July 2010.
- ↑ 1976: Death sentence for mercenaries, On This Day - 28 June, BBC News, accessed 1 July 2010.
- ↑ Marvine Howe, New York Times, 6 June 1976, page 13, Column 1.
- ↑ 1976: Death sentence for mercenaries, On This Day - 28 June, BBC News, accessed 29 June 2010.
- ↑ New York Times, 10 July 1976, p.6, column 4.
- ↑ United Press International, February 28, 1984, Tuesday, PM cycle, SECTION: International.
- ↑ Marvine Howe, New York Times, 6 June 1976, page 13, Column 1.
