Equatorial Guinea’s vice-president, Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, has announced on social media that the country has abolished the death penalty.
He wrote on his Facebook page: “Historic and memorable for our country in the management of respect for Human Rights. I write with capital letters to seal this unique moment: EQUATORIAL GUINEA HAS ABOLISHED THE DEATH PENALTY,” said the vice president.
The measure – announced about two months before local, legislative and presidential elections – had been demanded internally and externally for several years.
Teodorín Obiang, the name by which the vice-president of Equatorial Guinea is usually known, is the son of President Teodoro Obiang, who has been in power since 1979.
He also published an image of the country’s new Penal Code, Article 26, which, in Chapter 1, concerning penalties in general, states that “in the application of penalties, the death penalty is totally abolished in Equatorial Guinea”.
The new penal code, Law 4/2022, signed by the head of state on 17 August, will come into force 90 days after its publication in the official gazette.
The commitment to abolish the death penalty was part of the roadmap that Equatorial Guinea, whose regime is accused by international organisations of human rights violations, undertook to implement when it joined the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP) in 2014.
Equatorial Guinea was also admitted in the Forum Macao in April this year as the ninth Portuguese-speaking country of the organisation.
