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Equatorial Guinea: Artist Freed from Prison.  Officer Admits Superiors Ordered Dubious Charges

(Nairobi, March 7, 2018) – An Equatorial Guinean court on March 7, 2018 released an artist imprisoned on dubious charges for nearly six months, 18 human rights groups said today. The prosecution dropped all charges against Ramón Esono Ebalé, a cartoonist whose work is often critical of the government, at his February 27 trial after the police officer who had accused him of counterfeiting $1,800 of local currency admitted making the accusation based on orders from his superiors.

“It is a huge relief that the prosecution dropped its charges against Ramon, but they should never have been pressed in the first place,” said Salil Tripathi, chair of PEN International’s Writers-in-Prison Committee. “We urge the authorities to guarantee his safe return to his family, allow him to continue creating his hard-hitting cartoons, and ensure that Equatorial Guinea respects the right to freedom of expression.”
The global #FreeNseRamon coalition, consisting of hundreds of artists, activists, and organizations devoted to protecting artistic freedom, freedom of expression and other human rights, carried out a campaign to direct international attention to his situation.

“Ramon’s release from prison is a testament of the power of collective work of hundreds of artists, concerned citizens, and NGOs,” said Tutu Alicante, director of EG Justice, which promotes human rights in Equatorial Guinea. “But we must not forget that dozens of government opponents who are not as fortunate fill Equatorial Guinea’s jails; thus, the fight against human rights violations and impunity must continue.”
Esono Ebalé, who lives outside of his native Equatorial Guinea, was arrested on September 16, 2017, while visiting the country to request a new passport. Police interrogated him about drawings critical of the government, said two Spanish friends who were arrested and interrogated alongside him and were later released.
But a news report broadcast on a government-owned television channel a few days after the arrest claimed that police had found 1 million Central African francs in the car Esono Ebalé was driving. On December 7, he was formally accused of counterfeiting. The charge sheet alleged that a police officer, acting on a tip, had asked him to exchange large bills and received counterfeit notes in return.
“Equatorial Guinea’s government has a long record of harassing and persecuting its critics,” said Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Ramon’s release is an important victory against repression.”
At the trial on February 27 in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea’s capital, it became clear that the police officer who had made the accusations had no personal knowledge of Esono Ebalé’s involvement in the alleged crime, according to his lawyer and another person present at the trial. After offering details that conflicted with the official account, the officer admitted that he had acted on orders of his superiors, they said. The prosecution then withdrew the charges.
“We are delighted that Ramón was acquitted and is finally free,” said Angela Quintal, Africa Program Coordinator, Committee to Protect Journalists. “The fact that the state’s main witness recanted, underscores the point that authorities manufactured the charges in the first place. Ramon should never have spent a single day behind bars and we trust that he will not be subjected to any further reprisal.”
The human rights groups are Amnesty International, Arterial Network, Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, Asociación Profesional de Ilustradores de Madrid, Cartoonists Rights Network International, Cartooning for Peace, Committee to Protect Journalists, Caoilfhionn Gallagher QC, Jonathan Price and Paul Mason, Doughty Street Chambers, UK, EG Justice, FIDH, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, Freemuse, Human Rights Watch, Index on Censorship, PEN America, PEN International, Reporters without Borders, Swiss Foundation Cartooning for Peace, World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.

“Now that Ramon has been released, the authorities must launch a thorough and effective investigation into whether the charges against him were fabricated, and ensure that the criminal justice system is no longer misused to target and harass human rights defenders,” said Marta Colomer, Amnesty International’s Campaigner on Equatorial Guinea.

For more information, please contact:
In Chapel Hill, for EG Justice, Tutu Alicante (Spanish, English, French): +1-615-479-0207 (mobile); or tutu@egjustice.org. Twitter: @TutuAlicante
In New York, for Human Rights Watch, Sarah Saadoun (English): +1-917-502-6694 (mobile); or saadous@hrw.org. Twitter: @sarah_saadoun
In Washington, DC, for Cartoonists Rights Network International, Robert Russell (English): +1-703-543-8727; or director@cartoonistsrights.org. Twitter: @BroDirector

The press release is issued by Cartoonists Rights Network International, Committee to Protect Journalists, EG Justice, Human Rights Watch, International Federation for Human Rights, Index for Censorship, PEN America, and PEN International.

Ralph Steadman

(Nairobi, February 26, 2018) – The trial of an artist on dubious counterfeiting charges, apparently brought in retaliation for drawing cartoons critical of the government, will be a test both of the independence of the judiciary and of free speech in Equatorial Guinea, seven rights organizations said today. The presiding judge announced that the trial will begin on February 27, 2018, for Nsé Ramón Esono Ebalé, who has been held in prison in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea’s capital, since his arrest on September 16, 2017.

Esono Ebalé, who had been living abroad since 2010, is a cartoonist who frequently uses his art to lampoon senior government officials. He portrays the president and other officials as stealing public money to fund lavish lifestyles and sexual exploits, without any regard for the grinding poverty around them.

“Ramón has done nothing more than ask the questions that the rest of his countrymen fear to ask and his answer was a prison cell,” said Dr. Robert Russell, executive director of Cartoonists Rights Network International. “More should be done to challenge those institutions, interests, and individuals who enable the EG government to operate so far outside the boundaries of law.”

The human rights groups are Cartoonists Rights Network International, Committee to Protect Journalists, EG Justice, Human Rights Watch, International Federation for Human Rights, Index for Censorship, PEN America, and PEN International.

Esono Ebalé was arrested while he was in Equatorial Guinea to request a new passport, accompanied by two Spanish friends. All three were initially questioned together in Malabo’s Central Police Station, but the two Spaniards were released after a short period. The interrogation focused solely on Esono Ebalé’s work as an artist, one of the Spanish friends said. The friend also said that the police claimed that only members of approved political parties are permitted to criticize the government.

Three days after Esono Ebalé’s arrest, the state-owned TV channel ran a report alleging that he had been arrested for counterfeiting and attempting to launder approximately US$1,800 of local currency found in the car he was driving. The report claimed that police had followed him during multiple trips to the country since 2014, although Esono Ebalé can be seen destroying his Equatoguinean passport in a video posted to YouTube in 2012, and he has been unable to travel since.

That same day, the police officer who conducted the initial interrogation summoned the Spanish friend to the station in order to explain that the questions he had asked about Esono Ebalé’s art on the night of the arrest were merely a strategy to get to this other crime and stressed that Equatorial Guinea respects the right to freedom of expression.

Despite this quick turnabout, Esono Ebalé was not formally charged until 82 days after his arrest. This prolonged period – during which the investigating judge did not respond to three pleadings or motions submitted by his lawyers – calls into question the credibility of the evidence. It also appears to violate Equatorial Guinean law, which mandates that a judge must charge suspects within 72 hours of arrest, unless the judge recognizes an exception.

The charge sheet alleges that an undercover agent, working on a tip, approached Esono Ebalé to provide change for a large bill and was given counterfeit money in return. The charge sheet also states that the head of the National Police testified regarding receiving information about Esono Ebalé’s alleged involvement in counterfeiting money and that the false notes were presented to the judge. It includes no information as to where the police found the money or other alleged members of the counterfeit ring. The judge refused bail and ordered Esono Ebalé to pay a 20 million CFA francs (US$36,000) assurance to satisfy any fines the court may levy on him.

“Ramón has been sitting in prison for more than five months and yet the prosecution’s feeble efforts at evidence cannot dislodge the appearance that this is a sham prosecution in retaliation for his biting cartoons,” said Mausi Segun, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “We hope the judge sees through it and acquits him.”

The case has garnered international attention, particularly from cartoonists, who have mobilized to support him. On February 2, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights sent a letter of appeal to the Equatorial Guinean government raising concerns that the arrest violates Ebalé’s right to free expression.

For more information, please contact:
In Chapel Hill, for EG Justice, Tutu Alicante (Spanish, English): +1-615-479-0207 (mobile); or tutu@egjustice.org. Twitter: @TutuAlicante

In New York, for Human Rights Watch, Sarah Saadoun (English): +1-917-502-6694 (mobile); or saadous@hrw.org. Twitter: @sarah_saadoun

In Washington, DC, for Cartoonists Rights Network International, Robert Russell (English): +1-703-543-8727; or director@cartoonistsrights.org. Twitter: @BroDirector

“Hello everyone: in my name and that of my family, I want to thank all those carrying on the fight, hoping I am freed from this situation in which I don’t belong.

I don’t belong anywhere except where an individual is free and responsible for their actions. However, those in power have decided not to admit reason, when reasoning, after all, would require the general progress of which they brag to unfold according to a better rhythm.

My hopes are still set on presenting #218Empire in Vienna, as planned, and on fulfilling the national dream of being at the level of other nations with the only thing I’m good at: DRAWING.

I will not give up. I wasn’t born with the world beneath my feet. I was born for my mother’s happiness. And today I live to represent my people with my drawing.

Thank you.

Nse.”