Hélder Pitta Gróz told reporters at the end of a meeting with his Vietnamese counterpart, Nguyen Huy Tien, that "protection was necessary, and if the police hadn't even taken a restraining approach, it would have been worse."
"We are analyzing this fact, the way in which (...) the citizens (...) died, as well as the police officer himself (...), who is a citizen," he emphasized.
Several provinces in the country, with the epicenter in Luanda, experienced protests and riots between July 28 and 30, following a taxi service shutdown decreed by taxi associations and cooperatives. This resulted in 30 deaths, more than two hundred injuries, and over 1,500 arrests, according to authorities.
Regarding these deaths, non-governmental organizations demanded an investigation to hold those responsible and responsible for the deaths accountable.
Hélder Pitta Gróz stated that the Attorney General's Office does not operate according to these demands, but acts according to what it deems "just or unjust."
At a press conference, the organizations Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace and Integrity of Creation, Pro Bono Angola, Justice, Peace and Democracy (AJPD), and Friends of Angola (FoA) considered that "the homicides perpetrated by National Police officers, under the pretext of containing social disorder, constitute serious violations of fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution and in international instruments ratified by Angola."
According to the Attorney General, in the aforementioned incidents, "some were unfortunate enough to be involved in these situations" because they were in the locations where the riots occurred.
The Attorney General emphasized that demonstrations are not synonymous with vandalism: "There were acts of vandalism by some citizens, looting stores, burning cars, harassing people, physically offending people, and there necessarily had to be a response from state agencies."
"Because the state must protect not only private property but also individuals," he emphasized.
Throughout these days, Hélder Pitta Gróz added, "a screening process" has been carried out, and those not directly implicated in the events have already been released.
"There are others who met the requirements for summary trial. They went to court. The court convicted some, acquitted others, and returned the cases for further investigation, because the type of crimes they were accused of required an investigation, and therefore, this work has been carried out," he emphasized.
