In a communiqué about the holding of the vigil, sent this Monday to Lusa and already sent to the Provincial Government of Luanda (GPL), the subscribers, activists and members of civil society, regret that Gilson da Silva Moreira 'Tanaice Neutro' has been imprisoned for more than a year and with "excessive pre-trial detention".
The "silence and slowness" of the Court of Appeal (court of appeal) in responding to the appeal filed by the Public Ministry (MP), which did not agree with the sentence of first instance, they say, "are forms of injustice".
They point to the "exhaustion" of the sentence of one year and three months to which he was sentenced by the Provincial Court of the District of Luanda, since he has been imprisoned since January 13, 2022, as one of the reasons for the vigil, scheduled for April 6, in Largo da Sagrada Familia Church.
'Tanaice Neutro', considered a "political prisoner", was sentenced, on October 12, 2022, to a suspended prison sentence of one year and three months for committing the crime of outraging the State, its symbols and organs.
The activist's trial sentence was read by the judge in the case, Daniel Ferreira, in the 1st section of the District Court of Luanda, who upheld the MP's accusation as having been partially proven.
According to the court, it was proved that the activist 'Tanaice Neutro', 35 years old, committed the crime of outrage against the State, its symbols and organs for having called the President a "bandit and clown" and having attributed the same name to the staff of the national police, in the videos that the activist recorded and shared on social networks.
However, the court suspended the execution of the sentence imposed for a period of two years under the condition that the defendant withdraws from the entities injured in the process and by the same means within a period of 15 days.
The Public Prosecutor's Office expressed its dissatisfaction with the judge's decision and filed an appeal with the Court of Appeal with a suspensive effect on the sentence, a situation which means that 'Tanaice Neutro' continues to be detained, awaiting a response to the appeal.
The promoters of the vigil also deplore the "deficit" state of health of 'Tanaice Neutro' and recall that the activist, who suffers from hemorrhoids, "needs urgent surgery", stating that the prison authorities "deny him any medical assistance".
Lawyer Francisco Muteka regretted, last January, the maintenance of the preventive detention of 'Tanaice Neutro', believing in the extension of that period due to the number of cases under consideration in the Court of Appeal.
"The process has now gone up, with the processes that it already has in the Court of Appeal and are being considered, which means that this same process can take three to six months, hence the democratic criminal procedure recommends that the judge should decide in favor of the defendant, with weighting and flexibility", previously pointed out to Lusa.
He also considered, on that occasion, that maintaining the activist's arrest "violates" the principles of the presumption of innocence, fair trial and others that have to do with the dignity of the human person and the reinforcement of the guarantee of the legal process.
The promoters of the vigil say that in addition to the GPL, the Luanda Provincial Command of the National Police has also been informed about the initiative, scheduled for 7 pm local time (same time in Lisbon) next Thursday.
