The leader of the opposition party Citizens for Innovation (CI) in Equatorial Guinea, Gabriel Nsé Obiang, appeared this Monday without a lawyer after being arrested on September 29 along with several party members, according to party sources.

“According to the information we received, they only brought ten (activists), and among them is the leader,” a member of CI’s national executive, who requested anonymity, told Efe by telephone from the capital Malabo.

According to the same source, the IC was unable to contact the Equatoguinean lawyer María Jesús Bikene, who was supposed to represent the detainees, and the hearing took place without her presence.

“We cannot know if they were brought to be tried or simply to collect their statements, because no one can enter,” added the member of the national executive.

The relatives of Nsé Obiang, who were able to see him briefly in the Court of First Instance no. He explained that the opposition leader looked “disfigured”, with apparent signs of mistreatment on his face and that he had not eaten for several days..

Nsé Obiang was transferred on October 5 to the Black Beach prison, also in the capital, known for its mistreatment of inmates, according to opponents and human rights organizations.

The party, they added, knows “nothing” about the charges filed against the detainees, after the raid on the CI headquarters in Malabo, on September 29, by the security forces.

Ecuadorian Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang – son of President Teodoro Obiang – Said, after the raid, that Nsé Obiang “intended, like the terrorist groups, to sow terror in the country”, but did not provide evidence.

The security forces of Equatorial Guinea, which is part of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP), invaded the IC facilities after a five-day siege and arrested Nsé Obiang, along with some 275 supporters, including minors, according to has confirmed the leadership party.

In the operation, the police used tear gas and at least one agent was killed “by shots from a follower of (Nsé) Obiang”, while 16 were injured, according to state television TVGE.

Party leaders, who said that 50 civilians were also injured, initially reported the death of four civilians, stressing that they were not killed by tear gas, as reported by TVGE, but by gunshots.

During the past weekend, these sources assured that more people had died during the robbery, after receiving reports that at least two more bodies were found in the headquarters.

Some 135 people were released on March 3, and two days later, the secretary general of the Ministry of Security, Santiago Edu Asama Nchama, said that some 50 people remained in detention, figures that CI was unable to verify.

Supporters gathered at the headquarters before the raid were going to decide whether Nsé Obiang would be their presidential candidate in the November 20 elections against the head of state, who announced his candidacy on September 23 and will seek his sixth term.

CI was outlawed by a court ruling in 2018, but its leader claims that it was “legalized” that year through a general amnesty decreed by the government for political prisoners, something that the Equatorial Guinean authorities deny.

Two candidates will compete with Teodoro Obiang for the presidential elections in Equatorial Guinea

Two candidates will face President Teodoro Obiang on November 20 in Equatorial Guinea, who is running for a sixth term. after more than 43 years at the helm of this Central African countryannounced state television.

Reelected in 2016 with more than 93.7% of the votesTeodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo —who runs the small country with an iron fist—, at 80 years old, holds the world record for longevity in power for a living head of state, with the exception of monarchies. Equatorial Guinea, rich in hydrocarbons, is one of the most closed and authoritarian states in the world.

On Friday, the National Electoral Commission (CEN) closed the term for the presentation of candidacies for the presidential, legislative, senatorial and municipal elections, scheduled for the same day, November 20, and officially proclaimed the admitted candidates, state television TVGE reported. , quoted on Sunday. by international organizations.

In addition to Obiang —who is represented by the Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE), the only party until 1991 in this former Spanish colony—, the list of presidential candidates includes the names of Andrés Esono Ondo and Buenaventura Monsuy Asumu.

Andrès Esono Ondo, who is running for the first time, will be the candidate of the Convergence for Social Democracy (CPDS), the only opposition party that is not outlawed.

Buenaventura Monsuy Asumu, from the Social Democratic Coalition Party (PCSD), until now an ally of the PDGE in the legislative and municipal elections, is running for the third time.

The PGDE holds 99 of the 100 seats in the outgoing National Assembly and the 55 seats in the Senate.

The security forces have been engaged in a campaign of arrests of opponents for several weeks, after the regime denounced a “conspiracy” by the opposition, whose leaders live in exile for the most part, and which predicted “attacks” against “gas stations”. ”. ., western embassies and ministerial residences”.

Following the violent arrest of more than 150 militants of the outlawed Citizens for Innovation (CI), including its leader Gabriel Nse Obiang Obon, and human rights activists such as Anacleto Micha Ndong Nlang and Leoncio Prisco Eko Mba – a musician known as “Adjoguening” – The Network of Human Rights Defenders in Central Africa (REDHAC), based in Cameroon, denounced in a statement “a wave of repression aimed at silencing the population (…) with the proximity of the elections”.

Equatorial Guinea is a full member of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) since 2014.