an Equatorial Guinea court sentenced South African Nick Du Toit to 34 years in prison

an Equatorial Guinea court sentenced South African Nick Du Toit to 34 years in prison and handed down jail terms to 12 others it said were involved in a plot to topple the oil-rich country's president. 
Du Toit and seven other South Africans, six Armenians and five Equatorial Guineans were on trial in the tiny country's capital Malabo on charges including terrorism, crimes against the head of state and possession of guns and explosives.
Prosecutors had demanded the death penalty for Du Toit, accusing him of having led an advance party of mercenaries bent on ousting President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.
The court handed down 17-year sentences at Malabo's infamous Black Beach prison for four other South Africans. Other defendants received between 16 months and 24 years.
Six people, including three South Africans, were acquitted. <br>Some of the defendants say they had been tortured at Black Beach prison, where human rights groups say conditions are so bad just being held there amounts to torture.