Malabo asserts that the two detained Spaniards have been in “preventive detention” for almost a year “to prevent escape”

Eduardo González The Government of Equatorial Guinea has asserted that Javier Marañón Montero and David Rodríguez Ballesta, the two Spanish citizens detained in Equatorial Guinea last January on charges of bribery and fraud, “receive dignified and humane treatment, enjoy regular consular visits, and remain in preventive detention by a reasoned judicial decision to prevent escape, with the presumption of innocence guaranteed until a final judgment.” This past Thursday, December 11, the ambassador of Equatorial Guinea to the UN, Anatolio Ndong Mba, responded strongly in the Security Council to the accusations leveled against the regime of Teodoro Obiang Nguema in the Secretary-General’s latest report on the situation in Central Africa. The report mentions, without further details, that “on 9 October, the European Parliament adopted an emergency resolution in which it denounced the arbitrary detention of two Spanish citizens in Black Beach Prison, in Malabo.” During his remarks, Ambassador Anatolio Ndong Mba denounced “the omission of essential facts in the UN report regarding an ongoing legal process against European citizens involved in a large-scale economic crime,” according to the Equatorial Guinean government website. Specifically, according to Ndong Mba, the two Spaniards are accused of “corruption, fraud, embezzlement of public funds, and money laundering,” and the case is related to the contract for the creation of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) with the Spanish company Wayang Technical. The amount embezzled, he continued, totals more than €16.1 million from the public funds of the people of Equatorial Guinea, and the company received approximately €6.1 million without justifying the money or carrying out the project. “The investigations confirm that the funds were diverted and laundered through European financial institutions,” which reveals “the transnational nature of the crime,” he added. The Equatorial Guinean ambassador to the UN also affirmed that Equatorial Guinea “is a state governed by the rule of law, committed to transparency and the fight against corruption,” and that “those being prosecuted are treated with dignity and humanity, enjoy regular consular visits (in accordance with Article 36(1)(b) of the Vienna Convention), and remain in pretrial detention by reasoned judicial decision to prevent flight, with the presumption of innocence guaranteed until a final judgment is reached.” “The Republic of Equatorial Guinea regrets the lack of cooperation from certain European institutions in supporting our Government’s efforts to combat this corrupt crime, and strongly rejects any statements or decisions that undermine the credibility and independence of the Equatorial Guinean judicial system,” the statement declared. Therefore, it urged the international community to “require European institutions to respect the judicial sovereignty of Equatorial Guinea and avoid political pressure aimed at covering up the international corruption of European citizens in Africa.” The arrest Javier Marañón Montero and David Rodríguez Ballesta were arrested in Equatorial Guinea last January on charges of bribery and fraud, as part of an investigation opened by the Attorney General's Office into the alleged payment of illegal commissions to secure a public contract, the Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT) project. According to opposition sources, Francisca Obiang Jiménez, daughter of President Teodoro Obiang, may be implicated in this network of illegal commissions involving Spanish businesspeople, high-ranking regime officials, and several shell companies. [caption id="attachment_127620" align="alignnone" width="750"] Javier Marañón Montero and David Rodríguez Ballesta[/caption] Last April, after Guinean authorities installed hidden microphones in one of the prison's visiting rooms to spy on conversations between the two prisoners and Spanish diplomats, the Attorney General, Anatolio Nzang Nguema, called a press conference to demand that the Spanish Embassy in Malabo "respect judicial independence." For his part, the Vice President of the Republic and head of the security apparatus (and Obiang's eldest son), Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, ordered the complete isolation of both businessmen and prohibited them from receiving any type of visit, not even from their lawyers or family members. The European Parliament and Foreign Ministry On October 9, the European Parliament plenary session denounced the “arbitrary detention” of Marañón and Rodríguez Ballesta, as well as “the unacceptable conditions of detention and the ill-treatment inflicted on prisoners” in this country and recalled that both were transferred last April to Black Beach prison, “known for its inhumane conditions and systematic human rights violations.” The Parliament also denounced the “arbitrary detention” of the two Spanish citizens and the “unacceptable conditions” in which they have been held since then, and called on the authorities to take immediate and unconditional measures, such as lifting their pretrial detention, to guarantee their well-being and respect for their rights, in particular the right to a fair trial, as well as legal counsel and medical attention. Marañón Montero, who is on hunger strike, “must receive urgent treatment,” the text stressed. On October 8, one day before the European Parliament's statement, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs asserted, in written response to a question from the People's Party in Congress, that staff from the Spanish Embassy in Malabo had visited Javier Marañón Montero and David Rodríguez Ballesta on “approximately twenty occasions” and that the Spanish Embassy in Malabo “has been closely monitoring the case since becoming aware of it on January 22.” “In any case, the Spanish Embassy in Malabo will continue its numerous efforts with local authorities to guarantee smooth access for Spanish nationals in order to provide them with proper consular assistance,” the Ministry continued. “Finally, it is important to emphasize that the Spanish Embassy in Malabo is in close contact with the families of those detained in order to keep them informed of developments and the actions being taken,” the response concludes.

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