The siege tightens against Teodoro Obiang. The Prosecutor’s Office has requested the judge of the National Court Santiago Pedraz to issue a national and international arrest warrant against Carmelo Ovono Obiangson of the president of Equatorial Guinea, and another investigated for alleged torture of opponents of the Equatoguinean regime after his failure to appear in court two weeks ago.
The head of the Central Court of Instruction Number 5 had summoned Carmelo Ovono Obiang; to the Minister of National Security of the African country, Nicolas Obama Nchamaand the general director of Presidential Security, Issac Nguema Ondoso that they testified on March 28 as defendants, but none of them did.
Ovono Obiang and Nguema Ondo asked Pedraz to testify by videoconference so as not to have to travel to Madrid, given his governmental responsibilities, something to which the judge agreed. However, when the day came no one appeared. In response, the prosecution exercised by the Movement for the Liberation of Equatorial Guinea-Third Republic (MLGE3R) asked Pedraz to issue a national search and arrest warrant, a European arrest and surrender warrant (OEDE) and an international arrest warrant. (OID) against all three.
The Prosecutor’s Office has reported in favor of issuing national and international arrest warrants against the son of Obiang and Nguema Ondo, for having evaded the action of Justice “without legal cause” and despite the fact that they had been given the facilities requested for it. The Public Ministry considers it a “necessary and proportionate means” to ensure the judicial disposal of the three investigated, relying on the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court.
Although the Prosecutor’s Office has only ruled on those two investigated, because they were the ones who asked to testify by videoconference, tax sources indicate that the three must appear before the judge, so a similar measure can be expected regarding the third: Obama Nchama.
seized and imprisoned
These were the first agreed declarations after last October Pedraz admit the complaint filed by the MLGE3R against the three defendants for the alleged kidnapping and subsequent torture suffered by four of its members: the residents of Spain Martín Obiang and Bienvenido Ndong and the Spanish nationals Feliciano Efa and Julio Obama Mefuman —who died in the Oveng Azem prison (Mongomo ) presumably the result of these tortures.
The events would have occurred on a trip from Madrid to Juba, where they would have been captured on November 15, 2019 as part of a trap under the false invitation of a friend to travel to South Sudan.
According to the complaint, they were “clandestinely transferred on an official plane of the Equatorial Guinean regime and locked up in a detention center in Oveng Asem.” “They have been tortured and forced to apologize to the leader of the Equatoguinean regime under pressure in front of public TV in Equatorial Guinea,” the letter noted.
In it, it was maintained that Ovono Obiang and Obama Nchama were present both on the official plane in which the kidnapping was carried out and directing “some of the torture sessions in the basements of the prison.” In addition, it explained that both “would reside in Spain, would have a stable address, and also could be found” in national territory.
The two Spanish nationals, Efa Mangue and Obama Mefuman —now deceased— were charged with alleged participation in a coup against the Equatoguinean Government for which they were sentenced in a military trial to 90 years and 70 years. years in prison respectively.
“Strong evidence” of the crimes
The General Information Commissioner sent the investigator an extensive report on December 1 in which they focused on the “numerous cases of disappearances, forced transfers, torture, and even murders and death sentences, of well-known opponents residing in the exterior” of Equatorial Guinea.
The investigators consider that the testimonies recorded by the victims and the statements of the protected witnesses working in the case “are compelling evidence that determines the existence of the crimes investigatedkidnapping and torture mainly, two of the victims being Spanish citizens and another two Equatoguineans residing and taking asylum in Spain”.
The Police assure that these crimes would have occurred “within the framework” of a “systematic persecution, turning them into crimes against humanity.” “Two of those directly responsible for the commission of the accredited crimes, Nicolás Obama Nchama and Carmelo Ovono Obiang, together with their families, have a stable and accredited residence in Spain and others, such as Isaac Nguema, visit our country periodically,” he points out. .