The judge of the Audiencia Nacional Santiago Pedraz is investigating Carmelo Ovono Obiang, son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, and two leaders of his government for the alleged kidnapping and torture of two Spanish citizens who were members of a movement opposed to the political regime of the African country.
It was last October 31 when the head of the Central Court of Instruction Number 5 admitted a complaint filed by the Movement for the Liberation of Equatorial Guinea Third Republic (MLGE3R) against Carmelo Ovono, Secretary of State for Foreign Security in Equatorial Guinea, and against Nicolas Obama Nchama, Minister of National Security of Equatorial Guinea.
Just one month later, the investigator issued a new order in 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 the same month of November, the magistrate asked the General Commissariat of Information to inform whether all of them had diplomatic status in Spain at that time.
The complaint focuses on the alleged kidnapping and subsequent torture of four members of the MLGE3R: the Spanish residents Martin Obiang and Bienvenido Ndong and the Spanish nationals Feliciano Efa and Julio Obama Mefuman. The events allegedly took place during a trip from Madrid to Yuba, South Sudan, where they were captured on November 15, 2019.
According to the complaint, to which Europa Press has had access, all of them were «clandestinely transferred in an official plane of the regime of Equatorial Guinea, and locked up in a detention center located in Oveng Asem, in the demarcation of Mongomo, where they continue to this day». «They were tortured and forced to apologize to the leader of the Equatoguinean regime under pressure in front of Equatorial Guinea’s public TV,» the letter states.
PRESENT IN THE PLANE AND IN THE TORTURING The same document states that both Ovono Obiang and Obama Nchama were allegedly present both in the official plane that carried out the kidnapping as well as directing «some of the torture sessions in the basements of the penitentiary center». It also explains that both defendants «would reside in Spain, would have a stable address, and could also be found» in national territory.
The kidnapping would have occurred, according to the complaint, as a result of an invitation from a friend to the four opponents to travel from South Sudan to Ethiopia. This invitation turned out to be a trap to carry out their capture and subsequent transfer to Equatorial Guinea.
The two Spanish nationals, Efa Mangue and Obama Mefuman, were allegedly charged with an alleged participation in a coup d’état against the Equatoguinean government for which they were sentenced in a military trial to 90 years and 70 years of imprisonment respectively.
On December 1st last, the General Information Commissariat sent to the investigator an extensive report in which they put the focus on the «numerous cases of disappearances, forced transfers, torture and even murders and death sentences, of known opponents living abroad» in Equatorial Guinea.
«The investigators consider that the testimonies recorded by the victims and the declarations of the protected witnesses that are part of the case «are convincing evidence that determine the existence of the crimes under investigation, mainly kidnapping and torture, with two of the victims being Spanish citizens and the other two Equatoguineans residing and asylum seekers in Spain».
The Police assures that these crimes would have taken place «in the framework» of a «systematic persecution, turning them into crimes against humanity». «Two of those directly responsible for the commission of the crimes, Nicolás Obama Nchama and Carmelo Ovono Obiang, have, together with their families, stable and accredited residence in Spain and others, such as Isaac Nguema, periodically visit our country», it points out.
The report also makes it clear that «the investigated case has clear common elements with the rest of the kidnappings carried out in the last years from different African countries to national citizens or residents in Europe».
In this context, the Police emphasizes that it has been «accredited the political activity of the victims, the motivation and itinerary of the trip, the identity of another kidnapped person not residing in Spain as well as the identity of some of the people who were allegedly used to deceive the victims and provoke their displacement».
Likewise, the investigators state that neither «these victims nor the opposition groups to which they belong are considered threats to State Security or to individuals».
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
