18 political prisoners released, others still detained

Equatorial Guinea has released 18 political detainees jailed since mid-2002 on charges of plotting against the government, but opposition leaders and human rights activists expressed concern over more than 30 others who are still in custody. The detainees were freed in the small oil-rich state in West Africa on Friday. They and 12 military officials convicted in separate trials were amnestied by President Teodoro Obiang Nguema on the eve of the 24th anniversary of the military coup d’etat that swept him to power on 3 August 1979. A human rights activist told IRIN on Monday that 33 political prisoners were still in jail. Another source put the number at 36. The opposition Union Popular (Popular Union) party, one of whose members was among those released, expressed joy last week at the news of the amnesty. But it was disappointed that a second UP member was remained in prison, along with two leaders of the unregistered Fuerza Democratica Republicana (Democratic Republican Force) party. The detainees were among 68 people convicted in June 2002 of plotting to overthrow Obiang Nguema. The mass trial, which lasted from 23 May to 8 June, was slammed by human rights groups. Amnesty International said in a statement on 13 June 2002 that the defendants had been subjected to “an unfair trial where no evidence was presented against any defendant, many of whom [had] been tortured to extract confessions from them".[See http://web.amnesty.org/] Amnesty demanded an investigation into the allegations of torture. An oil-rich country of about 500,000 people between Cameroon and Gabon on the Gulf of Guinea, Equatorial Guinea gained independence from Spain in 1968, but remained a one-party state until 1992, when a law permitting opposition parties was passed. Relations between the ruling Partido Democratico de Guinea Ecuatorial (PDGE - Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea) and the opposition have been tense. Successive elections have been marred by opposition boycotts as well as accusations of intimidation and irregularities. All have been won by the PDGE. A presidential decree on 2 August announcing the amnesty of political prisoners said the move reflected “the invariable will of the government of the nation to press on with the democratic political process which the country is experiencing in peace, calm and harmony…” But it added that should any of the former detainees commit similar crimes in the future, they would have to serve the remainder of their prison terms in addition to any new sentences. The opposition Resistencia Nacional de Guinea Ecuatorial ( Equatorial Guinea National Resistance movement) said in a statement last week that the 2002 trial should be annulled. All political prisoners should be freed unconditionally and paid compensation, it suggested. Action should be taken against all those who tortured detainees “so as to give credibility […] to any measure the government wishes to take to normalise the climate of political tension,” it added.