A court in Equatorial Guinea has sentenced Ruslan Obiang Nsue, son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, to six years in prison for the illegal sale of a state-owned aircraft.
Obiang Nsue, 50, a former director of the national carrier Ceiba Intercontinental, was found guilty of selling an ATR 72-500 aircraft to a Spanish company and pocketing the money.
According to Hilario Mitogo, the Supreme Court's press director, the ruling was delivered on Tuesday.
The court ordered that Obiang Nsue could avoid imprisonment if he repaid approximately $255,000 to Ceiba Intercontinental, in addition to damages and a fine owed to the state. He was acquitted on separate charges of embezzlement and abuse of office.
Since 2023, Obiang Nsue had been under house arrest, following an order by his half-brother, Vice President Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, who is also a son of the president.
Beyond his role at the national airline, Obiang Nsue has previously served as Secretary of State for Sports and Youth in the oil-rich Central African nation, where President Obiang, 83, has held power for 46 years.
The sentencing comes against the backdrop of another high-profile case involving his half-brother, Vice President Obiang Mangue. In July 2021, a French court convicted him of embezzling public funds, handing down a suspended jail term and a $35 million fine.