Search Results for: Democracia

The Angolan university lecturer, Domingos da Cruz, whose work is cited in an indictment as the cause for the June detention of 15  activists in Luanda, does not believe coup d’états are a viable form of overthrowing dictatorships. In his manuscript, Tools to Destroy a Dictatorship and Avoiding a New Dictatorship – Philosophy for the Political Liberation of Angola” the author, who has been indicted of organising a rebellion by holding weekly political seminars, defends the change of the regime through non-violent means, and not through violence. In the second chapter of the manuscript, the da Cruz writes that often an oppressed people will turn to the army to bring down a dictatorship but notes clearly that this is not wise. “We are dealing with a situation that is not certain and clear. We should always bear in mind that the military are a crucial pillar in the structures supporting a […]

“I saw the wounds on the legs, the hands and on his back. I had to massage him as he was very swollen. He took a heavy beating. Fifteen to twenty police tortured him. He can hardly walk,” revealed Henriqueta Diogo.  She was referring to the terror her husband, the political prisoner Benedito Jeremias, experienced last Friday at the São Paulo prison hospital in Luanda. According to Henriqueta Diogo, her husband and five others who have been detained in the 15+1 case were protesting over what is supposed to be a basic right – being able to talk to each other during breaks. “The police started beating him while he was in his cell with electric truncheons while  the jail’s deputy director, Aldivino Oliveira, took photographs and filmed everything. He was then dragged out of the cell where the punishment continued, “ said Henriqueta Diogo. Yesterday, Henriqueta Diogo found her […]

Luaty’s life is at risk. He has been on hunger strike for 21 days. This is his way of protesting against being detained and abused for more than 100 days, due to a coercive measure put in place by President dos Santos’s attorney general. I fully understand Luaty’s lonely struggle in this regime’s decision makers’ hour of madness. I understand all the better because I went through a similar experience in 1999 when I was arrested for calling this same president “corrupt” and a “dictator”. I spent 14 days on hunger strike. Why do I mention this? Because sometimes you have to remember past cases to assess the conduct of those who fight for freedom, and the behaviour of those who oppress us: in this case, the President’s men. When I was led to a cell of the Central Forensic Laboratory, adjoining the Santana Cemetery, the then director of the […]

As evidence of the confusion abounding within political and judicial authorities with regard to the case of the 15 political prisoners, senior officials from the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) and the Attorney General’s office in Luanda travelled to Lisbon. There, on 6 and 7 August, they interrogated Alberto Neto, owner of the property where the youths were arrested, and made bizarre accusations about the activists’ alleged plans. Alberto Neto, a politician and academic, was interrogated by the deputy attorney general of the Republic attached to SIC, Luciano Chaca, and the SIC special agent Pedro João, who coordinated the raid on Neto’s home that resulted in the arrest of 13 of the youths. In an exclusive interview with Maka Angola, Alberto Neto described what happened. “I was in Sweden as a visiting professor in the University of Malmo. I was told that over 50 police officers had surrounded and entered my […]

Fernando Baptista, father of the political prisoner Manuel Baptista Chivonde Nito Alves, was summoned on Friday to testify before the Criminal Investigation Service [SIC] in Luanda. He was questioned about his son’s primary school education and about his given name, which recalls the name of a famous anti-establishment leader from the 1970s. “I was interrogated by special agent Pedro João, in the presence of Superintendent Fernando Recheado. They wanted to know why I called my son Nito Alves,  and where he went to school from pre-school to the end of his primary education”, the father told Maka Angola. According to Fernando Baptista, the interrogation lasted one hour and “was based entirely on his name and his primary education”. “Special agent Pedro João also asked me if we are related to Commander Nito Alves and I said we were not”, said the father. The legendary commander Alves Bernardo Baptista “Nito Alves”, […]

The activist David Salei is in a fragile state after hours in the emergency ward of Américo Boavida Hospital in Luanda as the result of the beating he received during a police crackdown on a protest march organised by the mothers and families of 15 political prisoners. Fellow activist Paulo Paixão told Maka Angola that David Salei “was brutally kicked in the ribs and abdomen and punched several times. He is in a bad state, he can’t talk properly and one of his legs is paralysed.” David Salei (right) ended up in the emergency war after severe beatings by the police. “I was hit twice in the back but I managed to escape,” Paulo Paixão said. The elder sister of the political prisoner Fernando Tomás “Nicola Radical” was attacked by a dog that police unleashed on the demonstrators. The dog latched onto her clothing, and pulled her so that she […]