Equatorial Guinea main opposition party dissolved

Equatorial Guinea’s main opposition party, Citizens for Innovation (CI), has been dissolved.

According to the country’s Deputy Attorney General Anatalio Nzang the CI party is accused of undermining state security. He said on Equatorial Guinea’s national television that according to the law on political parties any party that commits such a crime is automatically dissolved.

These developments date back to November 2017 in Aconibe south-east of the country during a parliamentary election campaign, where clashes occured between the party supporters and the police.

The party’s leader Gabriel Nze Obiang Obono said: “This is a false story from the government. The CI party which has no weapons was campaigning at the time, when the ruling party blocked our campaigns all over the country, which was done in collaboration with the police. It can not be said that the supporters attacked a military camp. At each stage of the campaigns, our unarmed supporters met armed men. What can unarmed people really do against armed people?”

In the wake of this dissolution, the prosecutor also announced the conviction of

21 CI party supporters to 26 years in prison for sedition and ten years for breach of authority.

They were also fined alongside their party some 210,000 euros.

The Citizens for Innovation party won only one seat in Parliament, with the ruling party winning 99 out of 100 seats. Since the vote, restrictions on freedoms and arrests, particularly of political opponents, continue unabated” in the country, according to the European Union.