He alleges that “Western justice is politicized” and that Malabo “has proceeded with all legality”
3 (EUROPA PRESS)
The Equatoguinean vice president, Teodoro Nguema Obiang, known as ‘Teodorín’, accused Spain on Tuesday of “interference”, as well as “humiliating” and “discrediting” Equatorial Guinea after the National Court opened an investigation against Carmelo Ovono Obiang, son of the President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, and two leaders of his Government.
“I recommend to all the members of the Government of Equatorial Guinea that they avoid traveling to the Kingdom of Spain so as not to be humiliated, because that European country does not want the prosperity of the Equatorial Guineans. Only humiliating our country, committing interference and disrespecting our sovereignty”, has specified in his official Twitter profile.
In another message, ‘Teodorín’ has charged harshly against Spain and has branded the case as “a comic story of Cantinflas”, in reference to the comedian. “I reiterate that Western justice is politicized to the bone,” “he said.
“In what part of the world, after a court order for international arrest, is a member of the Government accused of this? This only happens in Spain. (Equatorial Guinea) has proceeded with all legality, so what Spain wants, will not prosper”, has sentenced ‘Teodorín’.
Likewise, he has indicated that Spain seeks to “discredit” Equatorial Guinea” and “distort history”. “These terrorists were arrested by the Sudanese authorities and extradited to Equatorial Guinea,” he stressed on the aforementioned social network.
In this way, ‘Teodorín’ has published on his Twitter profile a verbal note from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs addressed to the Spanish Embassy in Malabo reporting the “unknown” whereabouts of two Spanish citizens: Feliciano Efa Mange and Julio Obama Mefuman .
“The Spanish citizens mentioned above are involved in the attempted mercenary invasion of December 2017. Indeed, after the knowledge of the fact by the courts of Equatorial Guinea, an act of search and capture was issued, and its corresponding extension, as well as the request for extradition”, reads the document, dated and sealed on January 13, 2020.
Thus, ‘Teodorín’ has defended that Equatorial Guinea issued an international arrest warrant, as well as the collaboration of embassies, including that of Spain. “So, what are they accusing us of”, he specified on his Twitter profile.
AN INVESTIGATION
The head of the Central Court of Instruction Number 5 admitted for processing on October 31 a complaint filed by the Movement for the Liberation of Equatorial Guinea Third Republic (MLGE3R) itself against Carmelo Ovono, Secretary of State for Foreign Security in Equatorial Guinea, and against Nicolás Obama Nchama, Minister of National Security of Equatorial Guinea.
A month later, the instructor issued a new order by which he agreed to expand the initial complaint and agreed to have a third person investigated: the general director of Presidential Security, Issac Nguema. In that same month of November, the magistrate asked the General Information Commissioner to report on whether all of them held diplomatic status in Spain at that time.
The complaint focuses on the alleged kidnapping and subsequent torture suffered by four members of the MLGE3R: Martín Obiang and Bienvenido Ndong, residents of Spain, and Feliciano Efa and Julio Obama Mefuman, Spanish nationals. The events would have occurred on a trip from Madrid to Juba, in South Sudan, where they would have been captured on November 15, 2019.
According to the complaint, to which Europa Press has had access, all of them were “clandestinely transferred on an official plane of the Equatorial Guinean regime, and locked up in a detention center located in Oveng Asem, in the Mongomo demarcation, where they continue to until these days”. “They have been tortured and forced to ask for forgiveness from the leader of the Equatoguinean regime under pressure in front of public TV in Equatorial Guinea,” the letter states.
He himself maintains that both Ovono Obiang and Obama Nchama were present both on the official plane that carried out the kidnapping and directing “some of the torture sessions in the basements of the prison.” In addition, he explains that both defendants “reside in Spain, have a stable address, and also could be found” in national territory.
The kidnapping would have occurred, according to the complaint, following an invitation from a friend to the four opponents to travel from South Sudan to Ethiopia. That invitation would have turned out to be a trap to undertake his capture and his subsequent transfer to Equatorial Guinea.
The investigators consider that the testimonies recorded by the victims and the statements of the protected witnesses working in the case “are forceful evidence that determines the existence of the crimes under investigation, mainly kidnapping and torture, with two of the victims being Spanish citizens and another two Equatoguineans residing and taking refuge in Spain”.
