Salvador Freire said, in statements to the Lusa agency, that in the closing arguments session held this Wednesday, the Public Prosecutor's Office asked for a suspended sentence for all defendants, for not having found evidence to support a conviction.
"The Public Ministry itself dropped the accusation against them and the only thing they ask is that, as these elements belong to the Portuguese Protectorate Movement Lunda Tchokwe [MPPLT], they be sentenced to a suspended sentence", he said.
According to the defense, the court scheduled the questioning and sentencing session for the 25th of February at the court in the province of Lunda Norte.
The lawyer stressed that, in his allegations, he asked for the release of all the defendants, because nothing was proved.
"In addition to freedom, we also demand that the State be held responsible for the death of individuals who died in the Cacanda jail. stressed.
Regarding the situation of the two defendants who died in the Cacanda jail, raised by the defense, Salvador Freire said that the court has not yet given an answer, but steps are being carried out by the Public Ministry, so he believes that the funeral can be held in the next two days. of them, who have been in the Lunda Norte morgue for 30 and 50 days.
The 25 defendants, including MPPLT leader José Mateus 'Zeca Mutchima', held accountable and arrested on 8 February 2021 for having promoted the demonstration in Cafunfo that ended in clashes between police and an undetermined number of dead and The injured began to be tried on January 28, in Dundo, capital of Lunda Norte, almost a year after the incidents.
All the defendants, currently detained, are accused of the crimes of association of malefactors, armed rebellion, practice of outrage against the State and its symbols.
According to the police, about 300 people linked to the MPPLT, which for years has defended autonomy in that region rich in mineral resources, tried to invade, in the early hours of January 30, 2021, a police station in Cafunfo, with the forces of order and security reacting in its defense and fatally hit six people.
The police version is contradicted by the leaders of the MPPLT, political parties in the opposition and local civil society, who speak of more than a dozen deaths.
Zeca Mutchima is appointed by the authorities as the leader of this alleged "act of rebellion", which for local citizens was a "peaceful demonstration".
The Public Ministry's order states that the co-defendants and others, in a composition of 400 people, belonging to the so-called MPPLT, armed with firearms, of the AKM type, shotguns, arrows, irons, sticks, cutting instruments, explosive devices manufactured crafts, pitchforks (slingshots), small axes, machetes and superstitious artefacts were moved to the premises where the police station in Cafunfo operates, with the aim of occupying it.
