By Enyichukwu Enemanna
A pastor and former Minister of Justice in Equatorial Guinea detained for calling the president a “demon”, has been freed after spending two years in jail.
The release of Rubén Maye Nsue Mangue came after he was pardoned by the 82-year-old President Teodoro Obiang Nguema.
Obiang who took over power following a 1979 coup is the longest serving African leader.
The pastor was arrested for criticising Nguema in a widely shared audio recording in 2022, calling him “a demon… holding his people as prisoners”.
Following his refusal to tender apologies to the nation’s leader, he was accused of inciting public disorder.
Additionally, the Ministry of Justice also barred him from preaching.
Obiang who won a sixth term with nearly 95% of the vote in 2022 election has been repeatedly criticized by rights organisations as one of the Africa’s most authoritarian rulers.
Mangue told the AFP news agency that he had not received a lawyer’s visit throughout his detention, and he had not been put on trial.
“I was in preventive detention,” he was quoted as saying.
Mangue, an ordained Pentecostal pastor serves with the Prophetic Ministry Church of the Shadow of Christ.
He was Justice Minister from 1998 to 2004 when he was sacked in a cabinet shake-up.
In 2007, Mr Mangue was named Equatorial Guinea’s permanent representative to the African Union and the ambassador to the United States in 2013.
Heritage Times HT recalls that his release comes amidst allegation of high-handedness and intolerance to divergent views among African leaders.
On Monday, a 24-year-old Shadrack Chaula who was convicted and slammed a two-year prison sentence over offences bordering on cybercrimes was released.
The court has ordered him to pay a fine or face two years in prison after he admitted recording a video that went viral on social media, showing him burning a picture of President Samia Suluhu Hassan while raining insults on her.
Social media users raised over $2,000 (£1,600) to pay his fine.
