"The breaking point was in fact UNITA proposing, since the MPLA [Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola] proposed duties for the demonstrators, which was not in our initial proposal, (...), seeing this situation, UNITA made a counterproposal and presented duties for national security agents", said this Thursday Mihaela Weba, vice-president of the parliamentary group of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA).
According to the deputy, about four articles were discussed and there was understanding regarding the content of the preamble, the systematization of the law, the content of the article on the object of the law and the article on the scope, on the rights of citizens who exercise freedom of meeting and in the article establishing the rights of citizens who exercise freedom of expression.
"UNITA accepted all the duties that the MPLA proposed for the demonstrators and the MPLA did not accept UNITA's proposal that the law contain the duties of national security agents, that's where the impasse occurred, the discussion on the specialty was postponed 'sine die'", she stressed.
Mihaela Weba stressed that UNITA understands that the agent's duties are in the law, the same "will think twice about violating the law, because at the same time that it establishes duties, it will also establish personal responsibility".
"It will not be the responsibility of the organization", said the deputy, recalling that during the discussion some of the MPLA deputies "tried to bring another proposal, instead of talking about the agent talking about the body, the body of defense and national security".
"No! It is the agent who has to be held accountable, the agent has to know that in a peaceful demonstration and without weapons, the bullet he is going to use cannot be a fire bullet, the agent has to know that he cannot torture or treat degrading the citizen, because the Constitution prohibits it, the law prohibits it, and he will be held responsible.
According to Mihaela Weba, the current law on the right to assemble and demonstrate does not provide for duties for those who violate the law, does not provide for accountability for agents who violate the law.
"This is what is wrong, this is what allows repression, because there is no law that holds them accountable," she pointed out.
The deputy stated that they are willing to do everything "to overcome this impasse, because no Angolan citizen is satisfied when someone dies in a demonstration".
"We are going to do everything to convince our MPLA colleagues that we have to sit down again to reach a platform of understanding. As deputies we have to dialogue", she advocated.
Questioned about the absence of duties for demonstrators in the bill that UNITA drew up, Mihaela Weba replied that "it is normal for it to be like this".
And she justified that, looking at the laws of other countries, namely South Africa, Botswana, Cape Verde, Brazil, Portugal, France, it was found that "since this right is a fundamental right in the category of rights, freedoms and guarantees, those which are of direct applicability and must be respected by all public and private authorities, all the other duties that are already contained in the penal code apply to demonstrators".
"If I go out in a demonstration and set fire to a vehicle, I will be held responsible for that damage, both from a criminal point of view and from a civil point of view, because I practiced damage against a third party, therefore, this is safeguarded", she argued.
