Jean-Jacques Cornish

Alleged DRC coup plotters to stand trial in Pretoria

Members of a DRC rebel group accused of plotting to overthrow president Joseph Kabila’s government go on trial in the Pretoria High court today.

They lost an application yesterday for the case to be squashed because the alleged offence was designed for a foreign sovereign state.

Two of the accused launched an application for charges to be dropped because the alleged coup plot against DRC President Josef Kabila was designed to take place outside South Africa’s jurisdiction and that the putsch never actually took place.

Prosecutor Tory Pretorius said the group of 20 DRC men are subject to South African law.

He urged the court to take into account South Africa’s international obligations.

It could not be seen to be doing nothing while people were planning a coup d’etat against on one of its neighbours.

The coup was planned and mercenaries were recruited in South Africa.

The guns and money would have been obtained in South Africa.

Pretorius argued that a South African court had full jurisdiction in the case.

He said the moment minds meet, on a crime, at that time a crime has already been committed. The contemplated offence need not be brought to fruition.

Judge Billy Mothle dismissed the accused’s application.

 

 

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Jean-Jacques Cornish is a journalist and broadcaster who has been involved in the media all his adult life.

Starting as a reporter on his hometown newspaper, he moved briefly to then Rhodesia before returning to South Africa to become a parliamentary correspondent with the South African Press Association. He was sent to London as Sapa’s London editor and also served as special correspondent to the United Nations. He joined the then Argus group in London as political correspondent.

Returning to South Africa after 12 years abroad, he was assistant editor on the Pretoria News for a decade before becoming editor of the Star and SA Times for five years.

Since 1999 he’s been an independent journalist writing and broadcasting – mainly about Africa – for Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape
Talk, Radio France International, PressTV, Radio Live New Zealand, Business Day, Mail & Guardian, the BBC, Agence France Press,
Business in Africa, Leadership, India Today, the South African Institute for International Affairs and the Institute for Security Studies.

He has hosted current affairs talk shows on Talk Radio 702 and 567 Cape Talk. He appears as an African affairs pundit on SABC Africa and CNBC Africa.
He lectured in contemporary studies to journalism students at the Tshwane University of Technology and the University of Pretoria.

He speaks on African affairs to corporate and other audiences.
He has been officially invited as a journalist to more than 30 countries. He was the winner of the 2007 SADC award for radio journalism.

He’s been a member of the EISA team observing elections in Somaliland, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Tunsiai.

In October 2009 he headed a group of 39 African journalists to the 60th anniversary celebrations of the Peoples’ Republic of China.

In January 2010 he joined a rescue and paramedical team to earthquake struck Haiti.

He is immediate past president of the Alliance Francaise of Pretoria.

Jean-Jacques is a director of Giant Media. The company was given access to Nelson Mandela in his retirement years until 2009.
He is co-producer of the hour-long documentary Mandela at 90 that was broadcast on BBC in January 2009.