Judge Pedraz summons to declare Obiang's son as being investigated for kidnapping and torture

The judge of the National Court Santiago Pedraz has summoned Carmelo Ovono Obiang, Secretary of State for the Presidency of Equatorial Guinea and son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, to testify as investigated for the crimes of kidnapping and torture;

Nicolás Obama Nchama, Minister responsible for Internal Security, and Isaac Nguema Endo, General Director of Security.

The magistrate has summoned them to testify in person in his court, number five, on March 28, according to a decision to which EL PAÍS has had access.

Pedraz's order comes two months after the judge refused to take a statement from Obiang's son on December 29 when the Police informed him that he was in a hotel in Madrid where he was being watched.

Then, against the discretion of the Prosecutor's Office and the complainants, he asked the agents to hand over the complaint filed against him and gave him three days to appoint a lawyer.

That same morning Carmelo Ovono Obiang took a plane and returned to Malabo.

Weeks before, Pedraz had ordered the police operation that was waiting for Carmelo Ovono at the Madrid-Barajas airport for his police arrest, transfer to the court and that his mobile phone and electronic devices be confiscated.

The agents who had been investigating the head of the Equatorial Guinea Foreign Secret Service for months did not hide his surprise and discomfort, according to police sources.

More information

The National Court investigates Obiang's security leadership for kidnapping and torture

On January 15, Julio Obama, 61, died under unclear circumstances.

He was one of the four Spaniards kidnapped in 2020 in Juba, the capital of South Sudan, and transferred to a prison in Mongomo (Equatorial Guinea) where they suffered torture.

The judge has ordered the repatriation of his body to Spain to submit it to an autopsy, but the Guinean authorities have so far not responded to his request transmitted through the General Directorate of Consular Affairs, an agency under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The plenary session of the European Parliament recently approved condemning the actions of Equatorial Guinea and requesting the immediate repatriation of Obama, a Spanish citizen, and the release of the other three detainees.

delaying tactics

The defense of the three members of the leadership of the Guinean Ministry of the Interior has requested that different proceedings be carried out, which have been rejected both by the judge, as well as by the prosecutor Vicente González Mota and by Aitor Martínez, the lawyer representing the complainants. of the Movement for the Liberation of Equatorial Guinea III Republic, who have demanded that they be brought before the courts to take their statements.

Judicial sources interpret these requests as "delaying tactics" by the lawyers who defend Obiang's son to try to avoid bringing him to court.

Sources from the Movement for Liberation express their fear that the other three imprisoned opponents will suffer reprisals when the judicial siege on those investigated is tightened.

They are Feliciano Efa Mangue, 43, and Equatorial Guineans residing in Madrid, Martín Obiang Mbasogo, 45, and Bienvenido Ndong Ondo, 43. All sentenced to between 60 and 90 years in prison at a hearing for a alleged coup questioned by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.

The European parliamentarian of Anticapitalistas Miguel Urbán stated this Monday that “any aggression or reprisal that the three prisoners receive will receive a response in accordance with the resolution that we have just approved, both for the country and for the actors or inspirers of these practices.

We have made very clear the initiatives that will be taken if the repression continues.”

The agreement of the European Parliament almost unanimously condemned "the barbarity" of the Equatorial Guinean dictatorship and called for the release of the three political prisoners.

urban;

Hermann Tertsch, parliamentarian for Vox;

Domènec Ruiz Devesa, for the socialist group;

and Jordi Cañas, representative of Ciudadanos, agreed in their criticism of the dictator's government.

Carmelo Ovono, alias

, 44, was the first chief of the Special Forces of Bata, the most populous city in the country, and obtained residency in Spain in 2020. He is married to a Spanish woman and has a daughter.

He lives between Marbella and Malabo and owns homes and other properties in Barcelona and Toledo.

To obtain the resident certificate, he presented an account with a balance of 431,378 euros at BBVA.

This bank blocked one of his accounts last summer on suspicion of money laundering.

Obiang's son entered significant amounts of money in 500-euro bills.

The judge has ordered the preventive seizure of all his accounts.

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