The AN investigates a son and two leaders of Obiang for the alleged kidnapping and torture of two Spanish citizens

The hostages, opponents of the Guinean president, would have been sentenced for planning an alleged coup

MADRID, 3 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The judge of the National Court Santiago Pedraz investigates 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 integrated into a movement opposed to the country's political regime African.

It was on October 31 when the head of the Central Investigating Court Number 5 admitted for processing 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 Nicolás Obama Nchama, Minister of National Security of Equatorial Guinea.

Just a month later, the instructor issued a new order agreeing to expand the initial complaint and agreeing 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 two Spanish nationals, Efa Mangue and Obama Mefuman, 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 in prison, respectively. .

On December 1, the General Information Commissioner sent the investigator an extensive report 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 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".

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. .

The report also makes it clear that "the investigated case has some clear elements in common with the rest of the kidnappings carried out in recent years from different African countries to national citizens or residents of Europe."

In this context, the Police stress that "the political activity of the victims, the motivation and itinerary of the trip, the identity of another kidnapped non-resident in Spain as well as the identity of some of the people who were allegedly used to deceive the victims and cause their displacement".

Likewise, the researchers affirm that "these victims or the opposition groups to which they belong are threats against State Security or against people."