Equatorial Guinea: Release Detained Human Rights Defender

Joaquín Elo Ayeto is a member of the opposition political party Convergence for Social Democracy (Convergencia Para la Democracia Social), (CPDS) and a member of the coordination body for Somos+, a civil society platform established in 2015 which carries out human rights work.

On 1 August 2024, he was arrested by members of the Gendarmerie who forcibly entered his house and took him away. He was taken to the Malabo gendarmerie station known as la Luna and on 9 August 2024, transferred to Malabo Black Beach prison.

Joaquín Elo Ayeto’s arrest took place a few days after he, with some other representatives from Annabon island, visited the French embassy in Malabo. The purpose of the meeting was to reinforce cooperation between the embassy and the human rights platform Somos+. Somos+ was working to expose the human rights violations that were taking place in the Annabon island following the demonstrations of its inhabitants against the impact of some mining dynamite explosions taking place.