The Republic of Equatorial Guinea confirmed that in the framework of cooperation with the French judicial authorities, on Tuesday, March 18, a videoconference took place so that H.E. the Second Vice President for Defense and State Security, Nguema Obiang Mangue, may in respect to his functions, assert his rights in the context of an open trial in France, at the initiative of obscure associations against several African Heads of State.
The decision of the French judges to notify His Excellency of his indictment for money laundering violates international public law, which grants full and absolute judicial immunity to all Heads of State and current senior representatives of the acting State.
This judicial cooperation will finally allow the sending of this case file to the competent jurisdictions in order to end, in this way, this situation of flagrant violation of international law, orchestrated within the framework of the campaign of systematic denigration that has been carried out against Vice President of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, H.E. Nguema Obiang Mangue, internationally, for years.
In this process, we must recall that, at the time, the Equatorial Guinean Government informed the French judges that the Second Vice President of the Republic has diplomatic immunity due to his position, and if they wanted to make him declare they could do it through letters rogatory, addressing the judges and courts of Equatorial Guinea. It was the denial of this option by the French judges, which blocked the process for nearly two years.
The Government of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea, seeing this unjust, illegal and vicious behavior, which disregards the Equatorial Guinean Government in general, and its members in particular, made the decision that the Second Vice President would not be present to testify, under any circumstances, in France, standing firm on the principle of recognition of his diplomatic immunity.
The commission, which was finally held in Equatorial Guinea this past Tuesday and before Equatorial Guinean judges, terminates the order of arrest, which was maintained, at France's request, by European Union countries. Interpol, meanwhile, reported last year the closing of this order for the other countries.
This is a victory for the Government because the diplomatic immunity of the Second Vice President of the Republic has prevailed, and the decision of the Government of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea to maintain this immunity has never wavered, despite attempts to blackmail the French judges.
This trial, which has been called of "ill-gotten gains" and that was initiated against several African countries, is a political case in the attempt to use it to destabilize Equatorial Guinea, a country that, although it is adhered to the French zone of influence in Africa, is not a former French colony.
Since this process of "ill-gotten gains" began, supposedly launched against different African countries, in the last three years the specific cases against Equatorial Guinea and its leaders were practically the only ones spoken of.
On the other hand, France has not respected the agreements on mutual protection of property that it signed with Equatorial Guinea, which is why the Government of Equatorial Guinea at the time filed a lawsuit in the International Court against France for failure to uphold these agreements. So far, the French State has not responded to this lawsuit, thus demonstrating its lack of interest in working with Equatorial Guinea. All the evidence suggests that this is a politicized case with which France is trying, at all costs, to destabilize Equatorial Guinea.
For the principle of National Unity and for the prevailing Peace in Equatorial Guinea, we will always remain firm against any conspiracy from any other country.
We have always trusted the justice system and the presumption of innocence. That is why Equatorial Guinea will appeal against any court decision that could harm its interests or those of any member of its Government. Therefore, we expect that during this process, truth and professional ethics of judges who try this case by jurisdiction will prevail.
Bata, March 20, 2014
THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF EQUATORIAL GUINEA
