Political Prisoners Tortured in São Paulo Penitentiary

13 de October de 2015 Maka Angola

“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 […]

Thought Crime in Angola

12 de October de 2015 Rui Verde, MakaAngola Legal Analyst

In Angola thinking is a crime. This is what can be concluded from the 39 articles in the charges against the most famous political prisoners of our times, in Angola. The essence of the charges are based on a simple technicality. Since there were no facts or evidence to produce a “serious charge,” even if it had to do with intention to commit a crime, the publica prosecution came up with “preparatory acts.” The fact is that preparatory acts are usually not punishable. These acts are only punishable in very special cases such as an attempt on the life of the President of the Republic. In this way, the young people who were meeting to exchange ideas have been charged with making an attempt on the President’s life and with rebellion because there is no crime to speak of. Therefore, the judicial authorities had to turn to exceptional accusations resting […]

Luaty: My Hero

11 de October de 2015 Rafael Marques de Morais

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 […]

Youth Activists Charged with Rebellion and Coup Plotting

7 de October de 2015 LUSA

The Angolan activist Rafael Marques told Lusa (Portuguese News Agency) this week that the charge of “rebellion” against the youths who have been detained in Luanda is a sign of desperation on the part of the Angolan authorities. “The charges did not surprise me because anything can be expected from a regime is so unpredictable and erratic,” said Mr Marques, who met the US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Linda Thomas-Greenfield this week in Washington. “This charge shows that the authorities are increasingly desperate”, he said. The Angolan public prosecutor’s office charged 17 youth activists with preparing to rebel and to overthrow the president of the republic by attending workshops on barricading the streets and civil disobedience. According to the charges, which Lusa had access to, “the accused were planning to overthrow the legitimate bodies of sovereignty, create what they called a National Salvation Government and to write […]

The Emergence of Fascism in Angola

4 de October de 2015 Rafael Marques de Morais

Allard Prize acceptance speech, Vancouver, Canada. I am deeply honored to be here today, at this great University of British Columbia’s Allard School of Law and most grateful for being selected the joint-recipient of the prestigious Allard Prize for International Integrity. Sharing this Prize with John Githongo, who has always been an inspiration to me, is humbling, and a double honor. I pay tribute to the finalists, the Indonesian Corruption Watch and the late Sergei Magnitsky, for their outstanding work. I dedicate the Prize to my family for their love and unconditional support. The journey I have taken to merit your recognition has a fine irony that I would like to share with you. In 2009, after I had finished a Master’s degree at Oxford University, I returned home, to Angola, with no prospects of getting a job. I had become more dangerous to the power holders for I had […]

Attempts at Peaceful Protests are Now Undemocratic in Angola

24 de September de 2015 Maka Angola

The families of Angolan political prisoners are appealing against the decision of the Luanda Provincial Governor, Graciano Domingos, banning the protest and vigil set for the 26 of September. Graciano Domingos argued that the gathering would be undemocratic. This is yet another episode in the famous case of the young activists who were arrested last June on politically motivated charges that they were plotting a coup against President Dos Santos. The youth had assembled at a book club reading, and were discussing materials on non-violent strategies against repression when they were detained. “We would like to make it known that the case is still going through the appropriate legal procedures; therefore, we need to wait patiently for the final decision on the basis of the law, and for the defence of the accused on the basis of their constitutional rights,” the governor said. The law permits 90 days of preventive […]

Crisis in Angola Could Free Social Conscience and Lead to Change

17 de September de 2015 Rafael Marques de Morais

A few days ago a lawyer was complaining over dinner about the lack of official information on the economic crisis in Angola. She felt the government, or rather the president, ought to keep society informed about how the crisis is to be managed and dealt with. The conversation reminded us how Angolans need to reflect on current realities and become more aware of the disarray in which our society finds itself at the moment. For the first time in the history of independent Angola, all the political parties are ideologically feeble and incapable of imposing their vision of Angola onto society. But this means that also for the first time, Angolans have the opportunity to exercise citizenship rather than party-political activism. The middle level For the first time in many years, the economic crisis is starting to affect an important sector of the population. This is the middle level – […]

Solidarity Meeting With Political Prisoners Gathers a Thousand People

16 de September de 2015 Maka Angola

More than a thousand people took part in a meeting to express their solidarity with detained Angolan political prisoners. Human rights defender Rafael Marques, and Radio Despertar organized the event on 12 September. The event was broadcast live by the radio station and live streamed through various social networks for nearly four hours. Deolinda Luisa, mother of the 26-years old political prisoner Benedito Jeremias, in tears and with a cracking voice, said she had not been able to take food to her son for three days because she had no money. The mother, currently living in Moxico province, is in Luanda to support her son who has been detained since 20 June. He has been accused of plotting to overthrow the state as part of the so-called 15+1 prisoners. The mother of 19-year old political prisoner Nito Alves, Adalia Chivonde, told the gathering that her son was showing signs of […]

Mavungo Convicted to Six Years in Jail for a Protest Never Held

15 de September de 2015 Lisa Rimli

Yesterday, September 14, a judge of the provincial court of Cabinda sentenced José Marcos Mavungo, a 57 year-old human rights activist, to six years of imprisonment on the charge of rebellion. His legal counsels will appeal to the Supreme Court. Mavungo has already spent six months in jail, and will serve 5.5 more years in jail. The peaceful protest he attempted to organize on March 14 never took place, as it had been prohibited by the authorities. Nevertheless, police and security forces arrested him as he stepped out of a Catholic religious service early in the morning on the same day of the planned protest. The authorities charged him with the crime of rebellion. Mavungo’s sentencing was a mockery of justice. It did not meet basic due process guarantees and formal trial standards required by Angolan law. The judge Jeremias Sofrera ignored the blatant lack of evidence exposed during the […]

There is No Place Like Home Unless You Are Banned

10 de September de 2015 Rafael Marques de Morais

For the second time in my legal and political brushes with the Angolan government, I learnt of a banning order preventing me from entering Luanda, my city. I arrived in Luanda at 12.15 yesterday, having flown from South Africa. While checking my passport, an immigration officer asked me: “What kind of problems do you have with the Angolan government?” He then told me of the order banning my entrance and held on to my passport. Another officer ordered me to join a group of foreigners in a waiting room who were possibly about to be repatriated for immigration irregularities. Apparently I was assumed a foreigner; one of the officers began to address me in English. After a while, another officer, playing the well-mannered cop, came to talk to me and informed me that his colleague had been overzealous. He added that there was an order banning me from leaving the […]

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