Spain’s National High Court on Tuesday decided to close a probe into three people, including the son of Equatorial Guinea’s president.  Carmelo Ovono Obiang, son of President Teodoro Obiang, was accused of kidnapping four members of the Movement for the Liberation of Equatorial Guinea (MLGE3R) who opposed Obiang’s government, in 2019. The Spanish court stated that there was “no basis to conclude” that the acts, even partially, were committed in Spain.

The High Court began an investigation into Carmelo Obiang, his security director Isaac Nguema Endo and Equatoguinean Security Minister Nicolas Obama Nchama in January 2023 following a complaint received from victims’ relatives. The three were accused of kidnapping four members of the MLGE3R in South Sudan in late 2019 and flying them to Guinea on Teodoro Obiang’s presidential plane. The four abducted included two Spanish citizens, Julio Obama Mefuman and Feliciano Efa Mangue, and the other two, Martín Obiang Ondo Mbasogo and Bienvenido Ndong Ono, were living in Spain.

High Court Judge Santiago Pedraz stated that it appeared that the accused “were kidnapped in South Sudan and transferred to Equatorial Guinea”, emphasizing that there is no ground to infer, even indirectly, that the criminal activity unfolded in Spain. Further, the claim that the injured parties were previously under investigation with surveillance in Spain and subsequently persuaded to travel to Sudan alone lacked substantiated evidence. Hence, the court opted to transfer jurisdiction to Equatorial Guinea’s Second Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice as a trial is underway in that country for the same offenses.

The judge reminded the parties that a safeguard clause allows a judge to prosecute crimes in Spain if a foreign state is unwilling or unable to investigate.

It was alleged that Obama Mefuman and Efa Mangue were denied consular assistance and were sentenced to imprisonment in Equatorial Guinea on charges of terrorism and participation in an attempted coup against President Obiang in 2017 and allegedly were tortured in prison. Mefuman died on January 15, 2023 during his incarceration. His death was condemned by the European Union (EU) which decried “the dictatorial reign of Obiang” and urged Guinea to release the remaining members of MLGE3R.

President Teodoro Obiang has held power in the country since 1979 when he took power following a coup against the then-ruling president. His rule has been marked by decades of human rights violations, including torture, arbitrary detentions and extra-judicial killings.