 Some 7 Independent Company men became civilians in Rhodesia , which was reconstituted as Zimbabwe in 1980 . Two of them , Gervais Henri Alfred Boutanquoi and Simon Marc Chemouil ( both former Foreign Legionnaires ) , were executed in April 1983 , despite a late plea from French authorities for clemency , having been found guilty of robbing and murdering Richard Kraft , a Karoi café owner . Witness Mangwende , the Zimbabwean Minister of Foreign Affairs , issued a statement clarifying that the execution was for the murder and unrelated to their earlier " service as mercenaries during the time of the Smith regime . " 
