At issue is a ruling by the Luanda Court of Appeal to prevent the OAA from holding a "national dialogue on the electoral legislative package", scheduled for this Thursday and which intended to encourage reflection, with various segments of civil society, on the proposals that are being considered by the National Assembly.
In statements to the Lusa news agency, Angolan researcher Cesaltina Abreu criticized the “pettyness” and “mediocrity” of the impediment, highlighting that the debate organized in an academy “is the ideal space” for holding meetings in which the daily lives of citizens are discussed.
The researcher highlighted the speed with which the injunction was decided, which “will certainly go down in the legal history of this country”, questioning the urgency and need to prevent citizens from discussing “something that is fundamental to life in society”.
The Luanda Court of Appeal ruled in favor of a group of lawyers who filed a precautionary action against the OAA initiative, claiming that this entity does not have the power to promote an event of this nature.
For the researcher, “there was a great urgency to block this initiative” and considered that we are facing “yet another demonstration of force, of intimidation”.
“Worse than all this is the fact that, at the end of the ruling by the Luanda Court of Appeal, it is advised to use force to ensure that the event is prevented from taking place,” he pointed out.
Activist Luaty Beirão also considered "what happened an aberration", drawing attention to "the speed with which the matter was dealt with", which does not happen in other situations.
“The surprise is that the court only works like this when it is to restrict, in this case, freedoms (…). It is incredible, because any other decision by an Angolan court, for anything other than those that are in the interests of those who took over the Angolan State, either has no response or takes months, years, to be responded to”, he stressed.
Luaty Beirão considered that the measure is "a reminder" that Angolans "live in a fantasy", and that daily they are "invited to accept this fantasy as reality".
“It amazes me that people are still shocked by decisions and attitudes of this kind on the part of a regime that has demonstrated, repeatedly, over the years, that it is anything but democratic,” he stressed.
According to Luaty Beirão, laws are used “at their pleasure” and citizens “are forced to play the role of democrats”, because the will of Angolans “is that democracy will one day exist”.
The activist stressed that it is “scandalous” that the authorities “go to the point of carrying out this maneuver using institutions, using the justice system, to prevent a civic activity, promoted by the bar association.”
“But, at the same time, it’s good that it happened, because it’s important that everyone is shaken out of this fantasy and begins to understand what the real challenge is that we have in this country, we are playing at democracy,” he said.
The activist, who in 2015 was convicted in a trial for alleged preparatory acts of rebellion, known as the 15+2, also considered that those in power “are not concerned with the message they transmit to society” with this action, having only the “minimal concern of keeping up appearances on the outside”.
“Domestically, they care little about what any person, entity, group thinks of them,” said Luaty Beirão, citing the recent episode of prohibiting the entry into the country of personalities who were coming to participate in an international conference.
