Category: Human rights

Over two days (Thursday and Friday), the clerk of the court read out some 90 pages of the 187-page manuscript of the “Tools to Destroy a Dictatorship and Avoiding a New Dictatorship – Political Philosophy for the Liberation of Angola,” written by political prisoner Domingos da Cruz, during his trial in which he and 16 other youth activists are charged with plotting a rebellion to overthrow the government and attempting to assassinate the president. The manuscript, which served as a manual for the youths’ debates on peaceful means of protest, is being used as the primary evidence of the youths’ intentions to seize power through violent means. Last June, the police arrested 15 of them. The attorney general, army general João Maria de Sousa, and President dos Santos, publicly accused the youth of plotting a coup. Two young female activists were later charged with the same crimes, but remain free while […]

The Office of the Attorney General intends to charge the 17 activists currently on trial in Luanda  with criminal (damage) rebellion for  having written slogans on their  prison uniforms. Defense lawyer David Mendes confirmed the information to Lusa. He is part of the team of four defending the 15 detainees, since June, charged with plotting a rebellion and to assassinate President Dos Santos, while discussing literature on nonviolence. At the beginning of the trial on Monday, the only day the press had access to the court, several of the accused turned up with various phrases, defying president Jose Eduardo dos Santos, written on their uniforms. “Five of them have been charged with having written on their prison uniforms.  The Prosecutor General’s office maintains that the uniforms are government property. They will soon come up with the charge sheets,” said David Mendes with the information that the court has given out on […]

No novelist could ever make this up. We have a trial. Inside, a number of the available seats are filled with supposed relatives of the accused that the very accused have never seen before. There are a large number of law students present who when asked about the law do not say anything and do not want to be photographed. There are also a large number of security personnel — some trying very hard to stay awake. One of the prosecutors, who refuses to provide her name, turns up wearing dark glasses and a wig which covers half of her face. The defense protests that they are not able to see her properly. She insists that she has the right to wear the wig in the style she likes. Outside, the police harass several members of the public protesting in favour of the accused. Diplomats are also harassed to move […]

In the last several weeks, the Angolan government has engaged in an international propaganda campaign to counter what it has called a coordinated effort to smear its alleged good reputation. Indeed, the newly-appointed Ambassador-at-large, Luvualu de Carvalho, has been in Portugal pointing accusatory fingers at supposed ill-meaning interest groups that were misrepresenting the country’s political leaders. The issue gaining the most exposure currently — and the one causing Luanda the biggest headache — is the prolonged detention of the young political prisoners.  One of them, Luaty Beirão, recently concluded a 36-day hunger strike to protest his unjust treatment.  Ambassador Luvualu argued that matters were being blown out of proportion, that the state had a solid case against him and the so-called Angola 15, and that there would be a free, fair, and openly transparent trial. Supporters of the Angola’s 15 insist that, firstly, their prolonged detention contravenes Angolan Law.  Secondly, […]

The young Angolan activists, on trial on charges of rebellion, used the courtroom to continue with their protest against the regime; yesterday they walked barefoot and had messages on their prison uniforms. The public applauded when the young “Revus” [revolutionaries] as they are known, were brought in, and one of them, Benedito Jeremias, had a prison t-shirt with the following inscription on the back “In dubio pro reo” (The principle that one is innocent until found guilty.) Like his 14 detained fellows — and two young females accused of the same crime but who have waited for trial under conditional freedom — Benedito has been detained since June on charges of preparing for rebellion, and making an attempt on the president’s life. The charges are punishable by up to three years — and allow for the accused to be free on bail while waiting for trial. Dressed in the usual […]

The trial of 17 Angolan political prisoners has been set for 16 November. Although Luaty Beirão and Domingos da Cruz have featured the most prominently in media reports, there are others who deserve to be mentioned. Manuel Nito Alves,       Nuno Dala,       Mbanza Hamza,       José Hata,       Sedrick de Carvalho,       Fernando Tomás (Nicolas Radical),       Benedito Jeremias (Dito),         Arante Kivuvu         Albano Bingo Bingo       Osvaldo Caholo,       Inocêncio Brito (Drux),     Hitler Jessy Chiconde (Itler Samussuku),     Nelson Dibango,     Rosa Conde (Zita),     Laurinda Gouveia (Lau).   History has already passed judgment on these youths: they are a symbol of the Angolan yearning for freedom; they are new heroes that, over the centuries, have been filling the glorious pantheon of […]

There is an enormous controversy among Angolan legal experts about the ways in which President José Eduardo dos Santos could intervene in the case of the 17 youths charged with plotting to overthrow the government and assassinate him. Those ruling out a presidential intervention cite the principle of the separation of powers: the president is head of the executive and is not, therefore, able to instruct the judiciary. This argument is not valid. The principle of the separation of powers has not been enshrined in the Angolan constitution; what exists is a separation of functions or duties. (Art. 105. No 3).  These have to operate inter-dependently — that is, through the constitutional mechanisms  of checks and balances.  This means that the president has to respect the constitution, but he can also, within the stated limits, intervene in the different power centers. He also has the duty of always defending the main […]

The trial of 15 peaceful activists who have been held unlawfully for almost five months and charged with preparing “rebellion and a coup attempt” will be a crucial test for the independence of Angola’s judiciary, said Amnesty International ahead of their expected court appearance on 16 November 2015. The 15 men were arrested and detained by Angolan security forces between 20 and 24 June 2015 in Luanda after attending a meeting to discuss politics and governance concerns. Amnesty International considers them to be prisoners of conscience and it is calling for their immediate and unconditional release. “The continued detention of the 15 activists amounts to a travesty of justice as they have been arrested solely for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of association and expression,” said Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Southern Africa. “The charges against them must be dropped and state authorities must ensure their immediate […]

President José Eduardo dos Santos’s tightening stranglehold on freedom of expression in Angola and his government’s decades of fear and repression will cast an indelible stain on the 40th anniversary of the country’s independence, said Amnesty International today. As dignitaries and foreign leaders gather in the capital Luanda to mark four decades of independence, at least 16 activists continue to languish in Angolan jails. “40 years after independence, many Angolans still have a long way before they realise their human rights freedoms. Those who express views that differ from those of the regime are subjected to brutal treatment. Independence should also be about people being allowed to freely express themselves,” said Muleya Mwananyanda, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for Southern Africa. “Many human rights defenders are suffering in jail merely for asking for accountability and respect for human rights. The state is using police and the judiciary to entrench fear and […]