"It does have some political overtones, because it seems to us that the idea is to repress any attempt by those who try to complain about the autonomy or independence of that area, but we understand that the underlying issue of the complaints of that community has to do with social conditions, poverty", said lawyer Guilherme Neves this Thursday.
Speaking to Lusa, the president of the Mãos Livres Association, an Angolan non-governmental organization that promotes human rights and defends the 198 citizens convicted of rebellion and participation in a riot, considered it to be a "merely political" process.
For Mãos Livres, which appealed the decision, the Saurimo District Court did not prove most of the accusations made against the defendants.
"Because claiming a right cannot mean imprisonment", stressed Guilherme Neves, highlighting that the citizens, at the time of the facts (October 2023) did not prove any riot.
"We understand that there was no riot, they (police officers) provoked the riot and the people never rebelled. It was a peaceful demonstration but it was interpreted as a rebellion", he argued.
Regardless of being a "blessed community" with natural resources, such as diamonds, the official stressed, the extreme poverty and lack of opportunities in the Lunda region gave rise to that "peaceful demonstration", he insisted.
Nearly 200 people were sentenced by the Saurimo District Court to prison terms of between two and eight years for the crimes of criminal association, rebellion, participation in a riot and disobedience, following riots that took place in 2023.
A total of 198 defendants were sentenced by the court after they participated in riots that took place on 7 and 8 October 2023, in the city of Saurimo, in the province of Lunda Sul, eastern Angola, Angolan Public Television (TPA) reported on Wednesday.
According to the court, it was proven that the defendants, aged between 18 and 78, men and women, disobeyed the order to disperse issued by the national police, marched to the vicinity of the provincial government palace and threw stones, bottles and sticks at the officers of the force.
At least three police officers were injured on the occasion, and several vehicles were damaged, as highlighted by the judge, quoted by TPA, stressing that the perpetrators were members of the self-proclaimed Legal Sociological Manifesto of the Lundês People.
This manifesto is led by Jota Malakito, who defends the autonomy of the Lunda-Tchokwe region in Angola, and attempted to promote an act of proclamation of the autonomy of this territory.
