Angola: Lawyer of detained Cabinda activists criticises NGO indifference

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Angola: Lawyer of detained Cabinda activists criticises NGO indifference

7:03 CAT | 27 Jan 2021

Photo: Lusa

The lawyer defending the three political activists jailed in Cabinda since June 2020, on Tuesday criticised the lack of support from international and national human rights organisations.

Arão Tempo, who represents the three activists accused of crimes of rebellion, outrage against the state and criminal association, said today, in statements to Lusa, that the human rights organisations do not express any position against some attitudes of the government of Cabinda and even the central government.

Faced with the indifference of these organisations, he noted that the Angolan authorities “do whatever they want.”

“We have never received any support from other international organisations, we have, for example, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and others,” the lawyer pointed out, stating that the centre of human rights violations, the repressive accommodation of the MPLA government is in Cabinda.

Arão Tempo reported that his constituents remain in jail, despite his efforts because there is little international pressure from these human rights organisations and even from human rights organisations based in Angola.

“There is little action that can reduce this repression and they are still in jail,” he said.

The lawyer said that the Public Prosecutor’s Office has referred the case to court, but so far the court has not ruled.

According to the lawyer, the Law on Cautionary Measures in Criminal Procedure, concerning measures of personal coercion, establishes that when the case is under preparatory inquiry, the limit is four months of pre-trial detention, which may be extended for a further two months when the case goes to court, if there are reasons to do so, duly substantiated.

“I have been saying that the laws in Angola, especially this one of the Cautionary Measures, is unconstitutional,” said Arão Tempo, adding that he will raise the issue of unconstitutionality for consideration by the Constitutional Court.

“The case is with the judge, the prosecutors, the Angolan intelligence services. This is a manipulated process. I have always said that justice in Angola is hostage to the political system,” he said, adding that Cabinda’s oil province has always been governed by a system exclusive to the Angolan Constitution, but hostage to the security services and, in particular, to Angola’s own political system.

The three political activists, Maurício Gimbi, André Bônzela and João Mampuela have been held in the central prison of Cabinda since June 2020 for supposedly trying to put up posters in the streets, with the words: “Down with arms, down with war, Cabinda is not Angola, long live dialogue.”

Maurício Gimbi is the president of the Union of Cabindans for Independence (UCI), while André Bônzela is the vice-president, and João Mampuela, the director of the president’s cabinet.

In September 2020, the Cabinda court denied the amendment of the coercive measures against Maurício Gimbi and João Mampuela, but granted provisional release, under an identity and residence permit and by the payment of a bond of 300,000 kwanzas (€417), to André Bônzela.

However, for lack of conditions for the payment of the security, he remains in detention.

Angola’s Cabinda province, where most of the country’s oil reserves are concentrated, has not been contiguous with the rest of the territory and, for many years, local leaders have been advocating independence, claiming an autonomous colonial history of Luanda.

Source: Lusa