The Supreme Court has acquitted Baltasar “Bello” Ebang Engonga, a great-nephew of Equatorial Guinea’s President Obiang. The court, after citing the case against him for lack of evidence and establishing that all participants in the personal films were consenting adults, dismissed the case.
After the appearance of compromising videos of Mr. Engonga online, the case drew the attention of literally the whole world. The court further confirmed his innocence, underlining that medical testing proved he had not infected those engaged with any sexually transmitted diseases.
It was astonishing when some married men whose wives were part of the videos called to thank Mr. Engonga. They explained that many of them were taking their divorce cases to court due to certain intimate information about their marriages revealed by the tapes.
Mr. Engonga also announced his plans to sue those who distributed the videos, stating the psychological harm it had brought to his family, particularly his wife, and how grave a violation of privacy it was for him.
Conclusion
The issue brings into view the results from the publication of private information in the internet arena and definzes some core issues about consent, privacy, and liability in the digital world.
Until his arrest, Mr. Engonga headed the National Financial Investigation Agency, which was tasked with preventing money laundering and other criminal dealings.
Mr. Engonga was arrested on October 25 on counts of embezzling a lot of money from the state and stashing it away in foreign accounts. Until now, he has not publicly reacted to the accusation against him.
Mr. Engonga was then imprisoned at the infamous Black Beach jail in Malabo, where there have been numerous accusations of gross mistreatment of opponents of the government.
His laptops and phones were seized during an investigation. Shortly afterward, the private footage began to appear on the Internet, turning what was already a complex case into a melodrama.
