Category: Articles

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 […]

The manuscript of  Angolan academic Domingos da Cruz, one of the prisoners of conscience in Luanda, defends peaceful actions against totalitarianism. The Portuguese press agency Lusa had access to the manuscript Tools to Destroy a Dictatorship and Avoiding a New Dictatorship – Political Philosophy for the Liberation of Angola, of Domingos da Cruz whose work is based on the ideas of the American academic Gene Sharp. According to the indictment of October 15 from the Luanda Provincial Court, the  reading sessions of  Domingos da Cruz’s work were a threat to state security. “It was at these meetings that the participants decided to fight against the so-called dictator, overthrowing and substituting those in charge of the sovereign bodies of the state, and drafting a new constitution,” says the charges  about the activities around the book whose author insists deals with non-violent mechanisms. “I can’t make any claims to the ideas contained […]

João Domingos da Rocha, 28 years old, has been held at Luanda Central Penitenciary under preventive detention for seven years. He is suspected of having stolen a bundle of  second-hand clothes.  I learnt of this case through the political prisoners Benedito Jeremias “Dito” and Itler Jessy Chiconde who had been held at the same prison. On one hand there is Luaty Beirão who has been drawing much international solidarity to the cause of freedom of expression in Angola through his hunger strike, which lasted 36 days.  On the other hand, there is the case of “Dito” and Itler who, days before, were tortured by prison guards.  This is a clear instance of the cruelty of the judicial system in the way it treats the disenfranchised members of society. “Dito”, Itler and Luaty, as well as the other 12 in prison, are awaiting trial while under preventive detention.  They have been […]

After visiting the fourteen young Angolan activists under detention, the activist Rafael Marques says that they have asked Luaty Beirão to end his hunger strike because “they need him alive” to ” continue with the struggle.” Luaty Beirão, the 33 year old Angolan musician is on the thirty-sixth (36) day of a hunger strike. He is protesting against the detention in June of a group of activists who have since been accused of trying to overthrow the president. “They are asking for Luaty to return to them alive and healthy; they look up to him as a respected moral leader,” said the activist Rafael Marques to Lusa. Marques had visited the fourteen prisoners at the São Paulo prison in Luanda; he then took the message over to Luaty Beirão who has been admitted into a clinic in the Angolan capital. Rafael Marques told Lusa that he took messages from the […]

Sol Wachtler, a former chief judge in New York state once remarked that a Grand Jury could “indict a ham sandwich” if necessary – a reference to United States Grand Juries being too easily swayed by the wishes of prosecutors. When reading the indictment of Case No 125-A/15 referring to Domingos Cruz, Sedrick de Carvalho, Albano Bingobingo and sixteen other citizens (among them 33 year-old Luaty Beirão who, in the charges, has been reborn and is now apparently 19) one gets the impression that a sandwich has been accused of a crime. We will therefore have to make an effort to understand the indictment, considering that it is a legal document drafted by people who have presumably mastered the law and know what they are doing. Let us look at the indictment from a technical point of view, trying to see whether it is possible that it reaches a valid […]

The world has its eyes on Luaty Beirão. The world is beginning to understand that the Angolan regime behaves exactly like a dictatorship: it imprisons and tortures its opponents. Not satisfied with the legal farce of the cases of Luaty Beirão and other young people as well as that of José Mavungo and Rafael Marques, the regime has once again broken the law by creating yet another political prisoner. Domingos Magno, a journalist for the site Central 7311, was detained on 16 October on charges of having committed the crime of “false pretense.” It seems Domingos Magno’s crime was to have obtained a press pass to attend the delivery of the State of the Nation speech by Vice President Manuel Vicente, at the National Assembly. According to the authorities, Domingos is not a journalist and should not have been able to get such a pass. The oppressive security services in […]