Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, Vice President of Equatorial Guinea, has rejected a European Parliament resolution holding Equatorial Guinean authorities responsible for the death of opposition leader Julio Obama Mefuman.
“The government of Equatorial Guinea vehemently rejects and dismisses the unfounded accusations made by the European Parliament regarding alleged human rights violations in our country, via its unfortunate resolution,” Obiang Mangue said in a tweet.
Obiang Mangue, the son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, accused the European Parliament of engaging in “colonial and paternalistic discourse” and disparaging Equatoguinean institutions and representatives in a series of posts.
Mr. Mefuman, a Spanish national and member of the opposition Movement for the Liberation of the Third Republic of Equatorial Guinea (MLGE3R), was charged with plotting to overthrow the government authorities.
According to the MLGE3R, Mr. Mefuman and three other dissidents were duped into traveling to South Sudan and then forcibly flown to Equatorial Guinea, where they were tortured over an alleged coup plot.
On January 16, Equatorial Guinea’s Foreign Minister, Simeon Oyono, announced that Mr. Mefuman had died in a hospital in the eastern town of Mongomo in Wele-Nzas province as a result of an illness.
