Equatorial Guinean nurse placed in pre-trial detention in Malabo for “ breach of secrets ” after claiming that the hospital where the new coronavirus patients are isolated and treated has no oxygen, learned the AFP from concordant sources.
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" The prosecution requested the preventive prison against the alleged perpetrator of the offense of breach of secrets, Nuria Obono Ndong Andem, " said the trial court in its order Thursday, which AFP was able to consult Friday. " Sampaka hospital, whose national television touts the ability to treat coronavirus patients, has no oxygen for Covid-19 patients ," said the nurse in an audio message to a friend on the WhatsApp messaging app.
The message had circulated on Wednesday in Equatorial Guinean social networks, and the nurse had been summoned the same day by the Minister of Health, Salomon Nguema Owono, who had promised him legal proceedings. The national television channel, TVGE, also broadcast a denial from the health authorities and broadcast images of oxygen cylinders. " We have more than 80 oxygen cylinders and an American company has guaranteed that it will provide us with oxygen whenever we need it, " Dr. Dr Manuel, a senior ministry official, told TVGE. of health. The nurse's incarceration sparked controversy.
The opposition party Convergence for Social Democracy, CPDS, demands in a statement its immediate release because " a caregiver is more important at the moment than the anger of a minister ". According to the opposition party, since the comment was made in a private setting, it should not be punishable by law. " Freedom of expression is guaranteed by the constitution, " argues Citizens for Innovation, an opposition party dissolved by the authorities in February 2018. A pro-democracy and human rights movement, SOMOS +, meanwhile started a campaign demanding the freedom of the nurse called " I am Nuria Obono Ndong ". In Equatorial Guinea, authorities reported 79 cases positive for the coronavirus, and no deaths. A battery of measures has been taken to limit the pandemic, including confinement between the mainland and the island part of the country.