Tag: Associação Mãos Livres

Young “Revolutionaries” Freed on Bail

On Monday, Judge Josefina Pedro of the Luanda Police Court ordered the release of eight youths who had been detained during a demonstration in the city on September 19. The detainees, all known to be members of the self-nominated Revolutionary Movement, were suspected of trying to organise an anti-government demonstration. They are Adolfo António, Adolfo Campos, Amândio Canhanga, António Ferreira, Joel Francisco, Pedro Teka, Quintuango Mabiala and Roberto Gamba. The eight first appeared in court for summary trial on September 20 and were released because there was not sufficient evidence against them. However, 20 minutes after their release, the Rapid Reaction Police rearrested seven members of the group while they were talking to journalist Rafael Marques de Morais about their earlier experiences of arrest and torture under police custody. Marques and two other journalists were arrested at the time same. Police beat all of the detainees, before releasing the three […]

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The Magnificent Seven

Last Friday, September 20, I went to attend the trial of the eight protesters, and a passer-by politician who had been arrested around Largo da Independência (Independence Square), in Luanda, the previous day. I arrived at the Ingombotas Court, known as the Police Court, with the lawyers from the human rights law firm Associação Mãos Livres: Salvador Freire, Zola Bambi and Afonso Mbinda. I had my camera with me on a strap around my neck. The hearing was public and there was space for one more person, but the police sergeant prevented me from entering, claiming that only lawyers were allowed in. The court is located in a residential building. In the corridor, next to the courtroom entrance, were six or seven policemen. The air was stuffy, the odour of human bodies filled the air. A policeman forbade me from entering the courtroom. I did not resist. I just went […]

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Military Police Uses Pliers to Torture Victim

Victória Jamba Sequesseque is upset but she is very proud of her 22-year-old son, Emiliano Catumbela. He has been in police custody since the May 27 for having taken part in an attempted vigil in Independence Square, which was violently squashed by the National Police. The vigil, organised by the Revolutionary Youth Movement, sought to peacefully mark the first anniversary of the disappearance of the activists Alves Kamulingue and Isaías Cassule, who were kidnapped in Luanda. The young man, currently being held in the district of Viana, gave details of his torture to his mother and Member of Parliament Leonel Gomes, during a visit on Saturday. “It was the provincial commander of the National Police [in Luanda], Commissioner Elizabeth “Bety” Rank Frank, who personally gave orders to the police officers on duty to beat the young detainees, and to make sure to hit them in the head, Emiliano told us,” […]

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