The Angolan was sentenced to 16 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Daniel Augusto was arrested at 17 years of age, and has now left at 31, after serving 14 years of the sentence.
The case dates back to 2005, when a body was found in Daniel Augusto's village - in Chipindo, Huila. According to the newspaper Opaís, the victim was Daniel Augusto's neighbor, who ended up being unjustly accused of the crime.
Since the beginning of the arrest, the case raised suspicions: the day he was arrested, the police went to his father's house and asked where Daniel Augusto was. The police explained that the man was being sought by the authorities and that he would have to go to the soba house to answer some questions.
Already at the soba house, the young man was accused of killing his neighbor. According to the same newspaper, on August 14, 2005, Daniel Augusto was taken to the command for questioning, but this did not happen. Three days later, the youth was presented to the public prosecutor who legalized the arrest.
Daniel Augusto was eventually tried in the Provincial Court of Huíla and was sentenced with the most serious sentence: 16 years of effective imprisonment.
Two years away from serving the full sentence, Daniel Augusto was released after being found innocent. The Angolan was released from prison on 21 February 2019.
The truth was eventually discovered by Daniel Augusto's brother. According to Opaís, Victorino Boano spoke with several people to try to understand what were the real reasons for his brother's arrest.
Victorino Boano revealed that in 2014 the victim's wife confessed to him "that she was sorry for what she had done (...), her attitude had left my brother in prison many years ago".
According to the widow, she made false accusations after being forced by two traditional authorities. "I was afraid of the elders, because the day they came to my house they brought masked men. I could not recognize the masked men, but I recognized the soba and the regedor, they were those who killed my husband," she said, quoted by Opaís.
According to the woman, the two masked men killed her husband and dragged him out of the house. They told her to clean up the crime scene, threatening to kill her if she told anyone what had happened.
