Ilunga André, director general of the Dundo Regional Museum, in Lunda Norte province, in the east of the country, has been detained since Wednesday for allegedly attempting to divert and export museum pieces and other artefacts.
This Friday, his lawyer, Wilson Mucapola, told Lusa that there was no attempt to divert parts from that institution, noting that the breaking into the safe was approved by the board of directors, as a result of the death of the employee who held the keys.
"There was a need to pick up some pieces that were in the vault for exhibition purposes, bearing in mind that the 18th of May is a commemorative date for museums. So, the museum's board of directors met, exposed the issue, discussed approved," he said.
According to the lawyer, the decision of the board of directors was preceded by contacts with relatives of the deceased employee, with the aim of recovering the keys, but without success, having opted for the break-in with the presence of police officers.
"This conclusion was reached and in the light of day, with the presence of police agents who work in the museum, the safe was broken into, the pieces were taken for the purpose of exposition right there in the museum, taking into account to the upcoming commemorative date, so there was no leakage of pieces from the museum", he stressed.
The authorities announced on Thursday that they recovered a valuable mask and other artifacts stolen from the Regional Museum of Dundo, which were hidden in the office of the director of the institution who, allegedly, was preparing to take them to Cape Verde.
The information was advanced by the Angolan news agency, Angop, which quoted the spokesman for the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) of Lunda Norte, noting that the Mwana Pwo mask and the Samanhonga (Pensador) figurine had been recovered.
Wilson Mucapola also expressed indignation at the information conveyed by the local SIC spokesman, referring that they "did not recover any pieces, because they had not lost any", since they were all in the museum.
The pieces "were already there at the museum and what SIC did was pick up the pieces, which were already there, they brought them to public auction as if they were something recovered", said the lawyer.
"They did not find any piece at home or outside the museum, nor the director or any other member of the museum and that is what is surprising", he assured, also noting that there were industrial diamonds in the safe and that "nothing was taken from there".
He also realized that his client is still being held, he has not yet been heard by the Public Ministry, considering that there are not enough elements to keep him in custody because "he does not even represent a danger of escape".
"It is in fact an illegal arrest, because they did not find him in possession of pieces, because these were in the museum and this arrest is for all intents and purposes illegal", he observed.
He also confirmed that the museum's director was arrested on the day he was to leave for training in São Tomé and Príncipe, with the authorization of the Minister of Culture and Tourism, where he would participate in a 'workshop'.
"We have documents that prove the authorization of the minister and there is no problem with that, he was on a mission of service, and as you can see, he was not found with any piece outside the museum", concluded Wilson Mucapola.
The Lusa agency contacted the Ministry of Culture to confirm this information and find out what the service mission is, but has not received a response so far.
In addition to the director of the Dundo Regional Museum, the head of the Museography department and another technician from the institution are also being held.
The Mwana Pwo mask is one of a set of eight artifacts that were illegally exported to Europe in the 1990s, but were, in the meantime, recovered by the Sindika Dokolo Foundation, which returned them to the Dundo Regional Museum in 2019.
The Dundo Museum, the oldest in Angola, founded in 1936 by the then Companhia de Diamantes de Angola (Diamang), houses an important collection of ethnological pieces from the Lunda-Tchokwe culture, including the collection of the ethnographer José Redinha, who was the first museum conservator.
According to Angop, the museum currently has 9,000 items, including the Samanhonga (Pensador) statuette, which has become a national symbol, the Mwana Pwo masks (depicting female beauty), Mukishi wa Mwanangana (clown of the king ) - which corresponds to the sacred sacrifice and represents the tribal chief's ancestors -, as well as the ngoma (drumming or drum) and puita musical instruments.
