Stoney Angolan Hearts

Manuel Baptista Chivonde Nito Alves, 19, has just started serving a six month sentence for contempt of court at Viana prison outside the Angolan capital, Luanda. Nito Alves, as he is commonly known, was under house arrest, having earlier spent fifty one days in prison after being charged, along with fifteen other activists, of plotting acts against the Angolan government.  It was during the trial for this original charge that Nito Alves cried out, saying, “I do not fear for my life; this trial is a farce.” The young activist felt the court was trying to humiliate his father, who was being interrogated at the time. The authorities took him away, tried him summarily, and slapped a six month sentence on him. Sadly, some have come to accept this lack of compassion on the part of the Angolan authorities as being normal. Nito Alves and I have much in common: we were both born […]

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