The National Court summons to declare a son of Obiang as investigated for kidnapping and torture of Spaniards

MADRID, 28 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The National Court has summoned Carmelo Ovono Obiang, son of the president of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang, and two leaders of his government --Nicolás Obama Nchama and Issac Nguema Ondo-- to testify in the context of the case opened for the alleged kidnapping and torture of two Spanish citizens integrated into a movement opposed to the political regime of the African country. The declarations have been set for March 28, 2023.

This is stated in an order of the Central Court of Instruction number 5, to which Europa Press has had access, and in which the proceedings requested by the defense of Carmelo Ovono Obiang, testimonials and documentation requirements, are also rejected, until they are produce his appearance before the examining magistrate.

It was on October 31 when Judge Santiago Pedraz admitted for processing a complaint filed by the Movement for the Liberation of Equatorial Guinea Third Republic (MLGE3R) itself against the son of Obiang, 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 extend the initial complaint and agreeing to have a third person investigated: the general director of Presidential Security, Issac Nguema.

The complaint focuses on the alleged kidnapping and subsequent torture suffered by four members of the MLGE3R: 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) for those alleged tortures--. 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.

Regarding Martín Obiang, the court now also agrees to notify the General Directorate of Legal Security and Public Faith, dependent on the Ministry of Justice, in order to report on the status of the file for access to Spanish nationality, and on whether there would be been approved.

According to the complaint, to which Europa Press had access, all of them were "clandestinely transferred in 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 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. .

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 opposition residents 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, 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 common elements 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 investigators affirm that "these victims or the opposition groups to which they belong are threats against State Security or against people."