The Luanda Book Club: Sedrick de Carvalho
Name: Sedrick de Carvalho Age: 26 years old Place of Birth: Luanda Education: Law, Jean Piaget University Occupation: Journalist for Folha 8, O Golo Charges: Conspiracy to rebellion and criminal association
Sedrick de Carvalho began his career in 2011 at the weekly publication Folha 8 as a page layout designer, going on to become a journalist. In 2013 he joined Novo Jornal, where he regularly wrote features on social and economic issues. At the end of his contract last January, he returned to Folha 8, where he still covers social and economic affairs. He also launched a sports blog O Golo and was its main contributor.
Sedrick taught a course on page design at the Evangelical Church of Angola before joining the Luanda Book Club on Saturday, June 20, 2015. His colleagues state that Sedrick’s laptop was broken and that he had borrowed one from journalist and writer Domingos da Cruz in order to design the layout for the text being used by the study group.
His father, João Rodrigues de Carvalho, states unequivocally: “The accusation against my son, of preparing a coup d’état is slander. My son never had a weapon, nor was he ever involved in party politics”.
Note: The 17 dissidents were initially charged with conspiracy to rebellion and an attempt to organize a coup d’etat against the Angolan President. The latter charge was dropped during the trial and an entirely new charge, of criminal association, was introduced by the state attorney in her closing argument – a charge the defence were not allowed to address and which served to increase the prison sentences, to ensure all 17 could be detained pending appeal