"It's the President of the Republic (João Loureço) who has to apologize to the Angolans because he didn't keep his words, he promised 500,000 jobs and we didn't see it, he promised to turn Benguela into California and it didn't happen, so he's the one who has to apologize and not me", responded this Monday "Tanaice Neutro" to Lusa.
Speaking at a press conference in Luanda about the circumstances of his arrest, arrest and release, the activist reaffirmed that, as he says in one of his songs recorded after prison, he will not apologize to the President.
The need for a public apology to the President, João Lourenço, was presented on October 12, 2022, by the District Court of Luanda, after "Tanaice" was sentenced to a suspended prison sentence of one year and three months for the practice from crime to outrage against the State, its symbols and bodies.
According to the court, it was proved that the 36-year-old activist committed the crime of outrage against the State, its symbols and organs for having called the President a "bandit and a clown" and having attributed the same name to the national police staff, in the videos that the activist recorded and shared on social media.
This Monday, the activist, who has been free since June 23, refused to make any apology to the head of state, guaranteeing that he will "continue to criticize the injustices" and "praise the good deeds of the rulers".
"Tanaice", who regretted the adventures she went through in prison, where she was for a year and six months, thanked the wave of solidarity from the Angolan people, the Catholic Church, activists, Amnesty International, journalists.
He said he was only released by "superior orders", but that without society's solidarity he would still be incarcerated.
"The Angolan people are supportive, I saw the strength, the manifestations in favor of my liberation and I also came here to thank", he stressed, refusing, at the same time, the title of hero.
"What I do is for the good of the nation, we did a fight not to be heroes, all those who fight for the country are heroes, everyone has a good that must be awakened", he stressed.
He considered that at the moment Angolans live in "extreme poverty" and asked for the joint efforts of citizens to "help the country to get out of this situation".
"We must denounce the injustices and praise the right things, we will continue in the same fight, we must all fight for the country to have a new course. Right now things are not easy and we will only win if we are united", he observed.
The activist also criticized the current conditions of Angolan penitentiaries, particularly the Hospital Prisão São Paulo and the Comarca de Viana where he was, referring to having registered cases of "physical and psychological torture, deaths, terrible conditions of accommodation and food for prisoners".
Angola "has the worst prisons in the world", said "Tanaice Neutro", noting that he was also visited, before and after the trial, by the Minister of the Interior, Eugénio Laborinho, claiming that the official had presented him with "proposals to leave activism".
