Guinean opposition leader Moto may stay in Spain as refugee

13 March 2008

MADRID – Spain’s Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed Equatorial Guinean opposition leader Severo Moto to retain the status of a political refugee despite his implication in coup attempts against the regime of President Teodoro Obiang.

The court revoked a 2006 decision by the Spanish government to lift the status of a political refugee that Moto had enjoyed in Spain since 1986.

Had the court not agreed with Moto’s appeal against the decision, the politician, who claims to be under persecution by the Obiang regime, would have had to leave Spain.

Moto is one of the top opposition politicians in Equatorial Guinea, a Spanish-speaking, oil-rich Central African country of around half a million residents.