Eduardo González
The Vice President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mangue, yesterday accused Spain of “interference, humiliation and lack of respect for sovereignty” in response to the investigation opened by the Audiencia Nacional against three senior leaders of Equatorial Guinea for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping and torture of four Equatoguinean opponents, two of them Spanish nationals.
The judge of the Court of Instruction number 5 of the Audiencia Nacional, Santiago Pedraz, has opened an investigation against the head of the Foreign Security Service, Carmelo Ovono Obiang, and two other high-ranking security officials, the Minister of State for Internal Security, Nicolas Obama Nchama, and the Director General of Presidential Security, Isaac Ngema Endo. Both Ovono Obiang and Vice President Obiang Nguema Mangue himself, popularly known as Teodorin, are children of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo (it is estimated that the president has around thirty children with at least five different women).
“I recommend to all members of the Government of Equatorial Guinea to avoid traveling to the Kingdom of Spain so as not to be humiliated, because that European country does not want the prosperity of Equatoguineans, only to humiliate our country, commit interference and disrespect our sovereignty,” the vice president declared yesterday through his official Twitter account.
“Spain still wants to discredit the name of Equatorial Guinea, that is why it is twisting history,” he said in another message. “These terrorists were arrested by Sudanese authorities and extradited to Equatorial Guinea,” he assured. “Where in the world, after an international arrest warrant, is a member of the government charged for this? This only happens in Spain. Equatorial Guinea has proceeded with all the legality, so what Spain is trying to do will not prosper,” he continued in a third message.
“What kidnapping is the Spanish press talking about, if these are individuals who were wanted for having attempted a coup d’état in Equatorial Guinea?” asked Teodorín. “We issued an international arrest warrant and collaboration to the embassies, including Spain, so what are they accusing us of?” he continued. “The article in the Spanish press about the alleged kidnapping seems to me to be a Cantinflas comic story. I reiterate that Western justice is politicized to the hilt; as in this case, that after having received a letter of collaboration, now they want to discredit us,” he concluded.
Foreign Ministry reminds Teodorín that in Spain there is a division of powers
In response to these accusations from Obiang’s regime, sources from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs assured The Diplomat yesterday that “the separation of powers is a fundamental principle of our constitutional system” and, therefore, the Spanish Government respects, “as it could not be otherwise, the judicial processes, as well as the resolutions that the courts may dictate”.
“From the bilateral point of view, it seems to us of the utmost importance to continue the institutional interlocution,” they continued. “We believe it is important to keep the channels of communication open with the authorities of Equatorial Guinea,” a country “with which Spain has historical and cultural ties of the first order,” they stated. These ties allow us to “continue working for the welfare of the Equatoguinean population”, but, “also, precisely for this reason, it seems essential to us not to stop demanding respect for human rights and public freedoms in Equatorial Guinea”, they warned.
On the other hand, the Spanish ambassador in Malabo, Alfonso Barnuevo, was received last Tuesday by the Equatoguinean Minister of Foreign Affairs, Simeon Oyono, as reported by the Guinean government itself through Twitter. During the meeting, “bilateral relations” were discussed, the Equatoguinean Ministry said, without further details. Diplomatic sources contacted by The Diplomat did not confirm whether this meeting was related to Pedraz’s investigation.
The facts
The three investigated by Pedraz have been accused of kidnapping and torture against the opponents Feliciano Efa Mangue and Julio Obama Mefuman of Spanish nationality, and Martin Obiang Ondo Mbasogo and Bienvenido Ndong Ondo Eyang, two Equatoguinean citizens with more than fifteen years legally residing in Madrid. The four belong to the Movement for the Liberation of Equatorial Guinea Third Republic (MLGE3R) and were sentenced in March 2020 by a military court to between 60 and 90 years in prison for alleged coup d’état, after a trial marred by “serious procedural irregularities,” according to the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights. Both judges and prosecutors were appointed by President Obiang by executive decree.
In this regard, the aforementioned diplomatic sources assured that, “from the consular point of view, at all times the Embassy of Spain in Malabo and the Consulate General in Bata have carried out before the Equatoguinean authorities the appropriate steps for the protection of the two Spanish-Ecuatoguinean citizens”. Likewise, they continued, “they have been given the appropriate consular assistance that the circumstances have allowed and have been in contact with their relatives who are being kept informed of their situation”. “The situation of these two people is a constant point on the agenda of dialogue with Equatorial Guinea”, assured the Foreign Ministry sources.
According to the facts contained in the complaint filed before the Audiencia Nacional precisely by the MLGE3R (and admitted last October), the three investigated were traveling on the presidential plane in which the four detainees were transferred to Malabo after allegedly being abducted in late 2019 in South Sudan for their alleged association with an alleged coup attempt in 2017.
According to the information received, they were first detained in Black Beach prison in Malabo and then transferred to a detention center located in Oveng Asem, in the mainland region, after which they were “tortured and forced to apologize to the leader of the Equatoguinean regime under pressure in front of Equatorial Guinea’s public TV”. Likewise, both Ovono Obiang and Obama Nchama were present both in the official plane with which the abduction was carried out and in directing “some of the torture sessions in the basements of the penitentiary”.
