MALABO, Equatorial Guinea
Former Equatorial Guinea justice minister Ruben Maye Nsue Mangue, imprisoned since August 2022 for calling the oil-rich country's leader a "demon", has been released following a presidential amnesty.
Mangue (pictured), also a pastor, told our
reporter on Monday that he had to undergo a thorough health check but said he
was doing well and had not been "tortured in prison".
"I am free," he said
over the telephone, following Friday's amnesty.
He had been arrested over an
audio recording that went viral on WhatsApp for calling the central African's
nation's leader Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo a "demon... sequestering his
people" while calling for a national dialogue.
"I did not receive a
lawyer's visit, I did not go on trial, I was in preventive detention,"
Mangue said.
In November 2022, at the age
of 80, Obiang won a sixth term with an official 94.9 percent of the vote,
prompting the United States to voice "serious doubts" over the
results.
Human rights groups regularly
accuse him of abuses including arbitrary detentions, disappearances and
torture. He has previously denied the accusations.
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