Rédaction Africa Links 24 with José María Irujo Amatria
The judge of the National Court Francisco de Jorge, replacing Santiago Pedraz, has decreed provisional imprisonment without bail and issued a European arrest warrant, as well as an international arrest warrant, against Carmelo Ovono Obiang, Secretary of State of the Presidency of Equatorial Guinea and son of President Teodoro Obiang, for the kidnapping and torture of four opponents, one of them Spanish, who died under unclear circumstances. The order also extends to the Minister of the Interior, Nicolás Obama, and to Isaac Nguema Endo, Director of Security, who are being investigated in the same case for the crimes of kidnapping and torture for terrorist purposes.
The judge’s ruling, issued on Friday, complies with the order given by the Criminal Division of the National Court, following the appeal filed by the Movement for the Liberation of Equatorial Guinea-Third Republic (MLGE3R), supported by the families of the victims, against the resolution of Pedraz, the investigating judge, who has repeatedly refused to issue an international arrest warrant against the dictator’s son.
De Jorge has sent a record of his resolution along with the arrest warrants to Interpol, security forces, and the SIRENE office (Supplementary Information Request at the National Entry), which is responsible for validating the descriptions of the individuals being sought for arrest. SIRENE has offices in all European capitals.
The new court order means that Carmelo Ovono, 44 years old, a former military officer and responsible for external security in Equatorial Guinea, cannot travel to any of the 196 countries that are part of Interpol without the risk of being arrested and extradited to Spain, where he is wanted. The Interpol headquarters in Lyon (France) has already included the red notice for the arrest, which is of the highest priority, against the dictator’s son and the other two high-ranking Guinean officials.
Ovono Obiang has residence, properties, companies, and accounts in Spain. However, he has not returned to Spain since Judge Pedraz ordered the police to deliver the complaint against him that was being processed on December 29, 2022. Ovono was staying at a central hotel in Madrid, took a flight to Malabo that same morning, and has not returned. Weeks earlier, the judge had ordered the agents to arrest him at the Madrid-Barajas airport, where a police operation awaited him, bring him to the National Court, and seize his mobile phone and electronic devices. Days later, Julio Obama, one of the four kidnapped opponents, died.
The judge has not explained in his rulings or orders what led to this change of criteria. An unexpected turn that has caused unease among the police officers who have been secretly investigating the whole scheme for two years.
Pedraz does not sign the order
The arrest warrant does not bear Pedraz’s signature, but that of Francisco de Jorge, the substitute judge of the Court of Instruction Number 5, because the case’s investigating judge and the incumbent began a few days off on the same day, as official sources from the National Court told this newspaper. According to the same source, the leave request was made before the Court’s decision.
During the more than two-year investigation, Judge Pedraz refused to issue the international arrest warrant to Interpol as requested by the prosecutor Vicente González Mota and the complainants since last March. Also, when the three suspects failed to appear for a video conference statement last March. However, the expected declaration of rebellion never came until the three judges of the Criminal Division forced the judge to issue the international detention.
In the coming days, the Criminal Division will have to decide on the appeal filed by Prosecutor Vicente González Mota and the legal representation of the victims’ families against Pedraz’s ruling, in which he decided to stop investigating the case and hand over jurisdiction to Equatorial Guinea. The authorities of the former Spanish colony claim to have opened an investigation against the three accused in the country.
The Equatorial Guinea authorities have refused to repatriate the body of Julio Obama despite the judge’s request, his family’s request, and the demands of all parties in the European Parliament. The Foreign Ministry is unaware of the whereabouts and health status of the three missing individuals, and for over a year, no Spanish representative has been allowed to visit them.
Read the original article(Spanish) on EL Pais
