"Angolan lawyers cannot practice in Spain and a Spanish lawyer was hired to represent the Angolan State in this process and we will be waiting for the judicial notification of the decision that will determine this entire process", said the Minister of Territory Administration, Marcy Lopes.
Speaking at Praça da República, in Luanda, where the official wake without the body of Eduardo dos Santos has been taking place since Monday, the minister said he was unaware of negotiations between the Angolan State with the former statesman's relatives, noting that the government delegation in Spain is supporting the lawyer.
"I do not know that there are negotiations [with the family members], what I said is that we are waiting for the judicial process to end and the Angolan State to be notified of this decision", he replied to journalists.
"There is a delegation that was superiorly appointed by the President of the Republic to accompany this process, a delegation of the Government that is currently in Spain providing all the documentary support and official information to the lawyers that the Government hired for this purpose", he explained.
Angola observes this Friday the last of the seven days of national mourning in honor of the ex-President, who died a week ago in a clinic in Spain, after weeks of hospitalization in an induced coma.
Doubt persists about the transfer of the body of Eduardo dos Santos, who ruled Angola for 38 years, since one of the daughters filed several lawsuits with the Spanish authorities, blaming the Angolan authorities for her father's death.
An Angolan government delegation is in Spain to try to "unblock the process", having already appointed a Spanish lawyer for this purpose, as confirmed by Marcy Lopes.
Regarding national mourning in Angola, the minister said that it ends this Friday at 11:59 pm local time: "From tomorrow (Saturday) there will no longer be national mourning and all restrictions imposed for this period are thus ended".
"This public space in which we are here at Praça da República in honor of President José Eduardo dos Santos will remain open until Sunday at midnight and the space will remain open for all people who want to pay their tribute", he stressed.
"And they will be able to do it here until Sunday, being certain that on Monday it will be closed for the due treatment it deserves for being an adjacent space to the António Agostinho Neto Memorial", he highlighted.
