Simon Mann

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Simon Mann (2011)

Simon Mann (born 1953 in England ) is a mercenary , security expert, and former British officer . He was the head of the private mercenary company Sandline International .

Time in the army

Simon Mann was born in England to well-to-do parents (but later became a South African citizen), attended Eton College and then Sandhurst Military Academy . He then served in the traditional regiment of the Scots Guards and then switched to Special Air Service ; among other things he was stationed in Germany. In 1985 he left the SAS, but remained a reservist and was drafted again in 1991 for the 2nd Gulf War.

Man in the 1990s

After retiring in 1985, he worked in computer security companies, and after the Gulf War, he turned to the oil industry. In the early 1990s, Mann helped set up the mercenary companies Executive Outcomes and Sandline International , whose areas of activity at the time were mainly in Angola and Sierra Leone . Executive Outcomes was very successful in Angola and Sierra Leone, whereby the civil war in both countries was ended in a very short time by the work of this mercenary company. In 1997, Sandline International received an order from the government of the state of Papua New Guinea to forcefully suppress a rebellion on the island of Bougainville , which also brought the company into the international spotlight, as the operation never started. Instead, the mercenaries were arrested by the army of Papua New Guinea and were only allowed to leave the country after paying a ransom. The scandal became known as the sandline affair .

The scandal surrounding the coup in Equatorial Guinea

On March 7, 2004, Mann and 69 other company employees were arrested in Zimbabwe when Mann's Boeing 727 was stormed by the country's security forces. During the stopover in the city of Harare , the aircraft was to be loaded with weapons worth around 150,000 euros . The charges were for violating immigration laws and breaking gun and other security laws. There were later allegations that Mann attempted to carry out a coup in Equatorial Guinea . Meanwhile, eight mercenaries were detained in Equatorial Guinea on the same charge. Mann said he wanted to travel to the Congo , where the weapons would be used to protect diamond mines . Despite this testimony, on August 27 he was found guilty of attempting to buy weapons to carry out a coup and was sentenced to seven years in prison. This sentence was reduced to four years on the appeal court.

After serving his sentence, Simon Mann was arrested in extradition detention due to an extradition request from Equatorial Guinea. He was extradited on January 30, 2008 and was on trial in Equatorial Guinea from June 17, 2008 for high treason , from which he was ultimately sentenced to a prison term of 34 years and four months. According to Mann, Mark Thatcher and British millionaire Eli Calil were the funders. The Lebanese-born opposition politician Severo Moto was supposed to take power in the country. South Africa and Spain had given their approval. Simon Mann was released early on November 3, 2009.

66 of the 69 fellow travelers were acquitted of this accusation in Harare, but sentenced to twelve months 'imprisonment each for violating entry regulations, the two pilots to 18 months' imprisonment each. They were all deported to South Africa after serving their sentences. The Mann owned Boeing and £ 180,000 on board were seized by the state. Mark Thatcher , son of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, later admitted his involvement in the attempted coup as a financier. On April 16, 2004, Sandline announced that it would no longer carry out any actions. The "EO" ended all activities in 1999; as the mass media has been assured to circulate due to a lack of government support .

Others

In 2002 Mann played Colonel Wilford in the film Bloody Sunday , which is about Blood Sunday in Northern Ireland from 1972 , but this was his only role as an actor to date.

The procedure and process are reminiscent of the mercenary film The Wild Geese Come with Hardy Krüger , which was based on a similar Africa scenario.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Simon Mann Interview, Chatham House, November 1, 2011, accessed December 28, 2017 [1]
  2. ↑ Tagesschau: 34 years imprisonment for British mercenaries (tagesschau.de archive) from July 7, 2008
  3. ↑ BBC News : Mann sings in E Guinea coup trial on July 7, 2008
  4. ↑ BBC News : Pardoned coup plot Briton freed November 3, 2009
personal data
SURNAME Man, simon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION South African mercenary, security expert, former British officer
DATE OF BIRTH 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH England