Disclosure of private sexual videos on social media

The longest ruling dictator in Africa, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, routinely targets and attacks opposition to his regime. FoMadrid, November 14, 2024: Following the government spokesman’s statement and the television intervention of the Attorney General of the State, regarding the scandal raised by the disclosure of private videos of sexual nature through social networks, in the context of the investigation conducted by the gendarmerie against Baltasar Ebang Engonga for alleged embezzlement of public funds, NEXOS GE would like to make the following remarks:

In relation to the duty to prevent risks to public health, the detection of sexually transmitted diseases should be carried out at the request of the participants in repeated sexual scenes, who are primarily responsible for the initiation of criminal proceedings for alleged deliberate contagion. However, with strict respect for the right to privacy, serology tests should be recommended for all participants in unprotected sexual scenes, as well as for all other persons with whom they have had sexual relations.

The Attorney General’s Office, as defender of the Law, has the duty to demand criminal responsibility from the Vice-President of the Republic, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, for ordering the seizure of the said private videos in the framework of the investigation followed, under his orders, against Baltasar Ebang Engonga for alleged embezzlement of public funds. Since they do not constitute an indication or evidence of the materiality of the referred crime under investigation, their seizure lacks purpose and constitutes a violation of the current criminal prosecution law.

The Attorney General’s Office also has the duty to hold the Vice President of the Republic criminally responsible for ordering the dissemination of the aforementioned private videos in the international press and social networks, and thus causing incommensurable moral damage, not only to the authors, but also to their spouses, children, relatives and friends. In fact, despite the offensive and immoral nature of the repeated sexual scenes, they appeared in the international press and on social networks.

The Vice President of the Republic must indeed answer before the Law for deliberately failing to comply with the duty imposed on him by the Fundamental Law, as a public authority, to respect the dignity, honour and good reputation of the persons accused, as well as the inviolability of their domicile and the secrecy of their communications (rights set forth in Articles 5 and 13 in fine). Consequently, the mandatory obligation to pay compensation should be demanded from them, and subsidiarily from the State, for the considerable moral damage caused to said persons, their families and relatives.

In order to reestablish the rule of law, and in view of the alarming juridical-institutional insecurity caused by the arbitrary actions of the Vice President of the Republic, the Public Prosecutor’s Office should require the immediate suspension of all extra-judicial investigations initiated by order of said governmental authority, and agree to the release of all citizens arbitrarily detained as a result of the same, for being in unquestionable violation of the Law. The effective and exclusive jurisdictional power returned to the judiciary must be reestablished as a matter of urgency.