The Luanda Trial was a
trial held in
Luanda,
Angola, in June 1976 during the
Angolan Civil War. Thirteen Western
mercenaries
A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...
were sentenced to either long prison terms or execution by
firing squad.
Background
Angola had gained its independence from
Portugal on 11 November 1975, but the new country was immediately immersed in a three-sided civil war. The
Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA) was supported by the
Soviet Union and
Cuba, while the
United States and some of its allies backed the
National Liberation Front of Angola (FNLA) and the
National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).
Thirteen mercenaries fighting for the FNLA – nine British, three American and one Irish – were captured by MPLA forces by mid-February 1976.
[ On May 26, they were indicted by the People's Revolutionary Court in Luanda.]Stephen Sedley
Sir Stephen John Sedley (born 9 October 1939) is a British lawyer. He worked as a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales from 1999 to 2011 and was a visiting professor at the University of Oxford from 2011 to 2015.
Early life and ed ...
, later a UK High Court judge.
Trial
The trial lasted from June 11 to June 16. There were five judges. The presiding judge was Ernesto
Teixeira da Silva, the Attorney General of Angola.[ The other judges were the Director of Angolan Television, two military officers and a member of the National Council of Women in Angola.][ Guilty verdicts were a foregone conclusion; before the trial had even begun, Luis de Almeida, the Director of Information and Security, stated that the defendants were guilty and that the only thing that needed to be determined was how much punishment to mete out.][ The following sentences were passed on June 28, 1976:][
Execution by firing squad:
*]Costas Georgiou
Costas Georgiou (; 1951 – 10 July 1976), also known by his alias Colonel Callan, was a Cyprus, Cypriot-born British mercenary executed in Angola following the Luanda Trial for activities during the civil war phase of the Angolan War of Indepe ...
(aka "Colonel Tony Callan"), 25 (Cyprus/UK)
*Andrew Gordon McKenzie, 25 (UK)
*Derek John Barker, 35 (UK)
*Daniel Francis Gearhart, 34 (US)
30 years' imprisonment:
*Michael Douglas Wiseman (UK)
*Kevin John Marchant (UK)
*James George Butler (UK)
*Gustavo Marcelo Grillo, 27 (Argentina/US)
24 years' imprisonment:
*John Lawlor (UK)
*Colin Evans (UK)
*Cecil Martin "Satch" Fortuin (South Africa/UK)
16 years' imprisonment:
*John Nammock ( UK)
* Gary Martin Acker, 21 (US)
*Malcolm McIntyre (UK)
Some of the verdicts had been expected, especially regarding Callan; one of his fellow mercenaries described him as "a homicidal maniac, who spent a lot of time killing blacks just for fun".[ However, Gearhart had arrived in Angola only days before his capture; defense lawyers provided evidence he had never fired a shot, and probably had not even participated in combat. Acker, an ex-]Marine
Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean.
Marine or marines may refer to:
Ocean
* Maritime (disambiguation)
* Marine art
* Marine biology
* Marine debris
* Marine habitats
* Marine life
* Marine pollution
Military
* ...
, had been shot in the leg and taken prisoner in his very first taste of combat within five days after arriving in the country. British Prime Minister James Callaghan
Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, ( ; 27 March 191226 March 2005), commonly known as Jim Callaghan, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980. Callaghan is ...
reportedly requested Angolan President Agostinho Neto to show mercy to the men.[
Nevertheless, the four condemned men were executed by MPLA military police on July 10, 1976.][ According to British former mercenaries
Chris Dempster and Dave Tomkins, only McKenzie was killed outright. Callan and Gearhart were killed by coup de grâce, while Barker, who was unscathed but had apparently fainted, was shot after waking up while his 'body' was being removed on a stretcher.
]
Aftermath
The two remaining Americans, Grillo and Acker, were released in November 1982 in a prisoner exchange worked out by the United States Department of State. The British prisoners were released in 1984 after negotiation by the British Foreign Office.
Sea also
* Mercenaries in Angolan Civil War
Mercenaries in Angola ( pt, Mercenários em Angola) are foreigners who participated in the Angolan Civil War on the side of the MPLA or the rebels, but were not personnel military of the interventionist states. Initially, the hired specialists were ...
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
*Burchett, Wilfred and Roebuck, Derek. ''The Whores of War: Mercenaries Today''
*Kennedy, Bruce.
Soldiers of misfortune
' CNN Interactive
*Stockwell, John. ''In Search of Enemies: A CIA story''
**Cohen Jr., Sylvester, Review of ''In Search of Enemies: A CIA story'', '' The Journal of Modern African Studies'', Vol. 17, No. 2 (June 1979), pp. 342–344
External links
BBC article on the Luanda Trial
BBC On this day 11 June.
Interview with Dave Tomkins, former guerrilla
''Time'' magazine, July 12, 1976 {{subscription
1976 in Angola
Mercenaries
Angolan Civil War
Trials in Angola
American people executed abroad
Executed English people
Angola–United Kingdom relations
Angola–United States relations