The secretary-general of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), Álvaro Daniel, was asked this Wednesday to comment on the fact that the names of the party leader, Adalberto Costa Júnior, and the president of the parliamentary group, Liberty Chiaka, were mentioned in the trial hearing, which began on Monday in Huambo.
"We consider this to be a public attack on the good name of President Adalberto, as a citizen, and of citizen Liberty Chiaka," said the UNITA secretary general.
According to Álvaro Daniel, both Adalberto Costa Júnior and Liberty Chiaka "are citizens who travel around the country and have worked hard" for the well-being of Angola.
"They deserve some dignity when they refer to the name of these comrades of ours," the politician stressed, considering that "what is happening in Huambo is nothing more than political theater."
"Soon they will see that there is nothing, that these are stories, then there is nothing, it is just the names of citizens that are tarnished," he said.
Álvaro Daniel added that "there is no evidence whatsoever", challenging that evidence be presented.
"We are a classic political party, which disarmed in 2002, we have proof of involvement, engagement, in the consolidation of peace, and our commitment is to continue consolidating peace, to continue consolidating the democratic rule of law, so that changes in power are made through the ballot box, by the will expressed by the people at the ballot box and we maintain this", he assured.
The politician urged the justice bodies "not to be used as instruments to achieve political ends".
"The people involved in this are known, they were also already involved in lawsuits against the party in 2021, when the party went to court, this is the country we have," he noted.
The Huambo District Court is trying seven Angolan citizens, six of whom are accused of the crimes of terrorist organization, acquisition or possession of explosive substances and criminal association, and one of document forgery.
The trial began on Monday with the hearing of João Gabriel Deussino, the alleged leader of the group, which also includes Domingos Muecália, Crescenciano Kapamba, Arão Rufino, Eduardo Kalala, Adelino Bacia, Francisco Nguli and Pedro João da Cunha.
After João Deussino, Domingos Muecália and Crescenciano Kapamba were interrogated, with the co-defendants, who are in preventive detention, cited several times, especially the alleged leader of the group, the president of UNITA and the leader of the parliamentary group as being the promoters of the project, according to Angop.
The group's actions were aimed, according to the accusation, at attacking strategic targets, such as the Presidency of the Republic, the Luanda refinery and the US embassy during Joe Biden's visit, initially scheduled for October 2024 and carried out two months later, with ten explosives being seized.
In January of this year, authorities announced the dismantling and arrest of the group led by João Gabriel Deussinho, 34, self-proclaimed president of the revolutionary movement Frente Unida de Reedificação da Ordem Africana (FUROA), which allegedly intended to overthrow the government and establish a new regime.
At the time, the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) reported that the organization with international links, which emerged in 2017 in the province of Huambo, began to be monitored in October and intended to carry out terrorist actions to destabilize the country's political and social order, creating panic during the official visit of former US President Joe Biden to Angola, in December 2024.
