The case involves alleged crimes of outrage against the State, its organs and symbols against the retired general of the National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA), due to a text he published about the death, on 27 November 2022, of the former Deputy Chief of Staff for the Operational Development Area of the Angolan Armed Forces, General Abreu Kamorteiro, raising suspicions about the causes of his death.
Serra Bango stated that although, in the text, Abílio Kamalata Numa only raised suspicions, without categorically stating that General Kamorteiro had been the victim of poisoning carried out by agents of the State – and not by the State, as an institution – the perspective "is different", stressing that in Angola there are several situations in which citizens have been killed by the action of State agents.
He gave as examples the cases of Isaías Cassule and Alves Kamulingue, activists killed in 2012 by members of the Angolan intelligence service.
"There is nothing wrong with people raising suspicions about the death or an event that occurred with a citizen. Here I don't think there is an outrage against the country's symbols, we have several examples of that", Serra Bango told Lusa.
"If an autopsy is eventually required during the trial, if it shows that he was in fact poisoned, who will be responsible? The step that the State is taking is like a trap, a shot in its own foot", said Serra Bango, recalling the example of the suspicions surrounding the death of UNITA general Arlindo Chenda Pena "Ben-Ben", who served as deputy Chief of Staff of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) in 1998, in South Africa.
For Serra Bango, this is "a situation of some excess", stressing that suspicions cannot give rise to an accusation, as they are "mere suspicions, which may or may not be proven", noting that, throughout 2018, other deaths of UNITA members were also recorded in "strange, mysterious situations", such as that of the deputy and former candidate for UNITA leadership Raul Danda.
"And what is being said about these attacks on several UNITA caravans? Even the president of UNITA, Adalberto Costa Júnior, has already been attacked. These are elements that increase suspicions of the possible involvement of some State agents in wanting to harm others", he said.
"There are factors, conditions, motives or behaviors of State agents or party members that make people think this way, so it does not surprise me", he stressed, declaring that Angolans are experiencing moments of "great intimidation", which are "reminiscent of the last years of the consulate of José Eduardo dos Santos, both with the approval of laws and the use of judicial power to intimidate citizens".
According to Serra Bango, these types of comments in other realities around the world are seen as the right to freedom of expression and free thought, as long as they do not offend the dignity and honor of a specific person.
