"It wasn't an invention of our agents, they were in the line of duty," said Eugénio Fernando Cerqueira, commander of the Luanda police, in a press conference.
He explained that the doctor was taken to the police station to "comply with the formalities", namely the lifting of the notice for subsequent payment of the fine, and reaffirmed that the interpellation was made under the decree that determines the exceptional measures in force during the calamity situation due to covid-19.
Silvio Dala, 35, was questioned by the police for not wearing a face mask inside the car he was driving and where he was following alone.
According to Eugénio Cerqueira, the doctor was not put in a cell and the death occurred on the way to the hospital, after Silvio Dala felt bad and fell, a version contradicted by the National Union of Doctors of Angola, which has already admitted to prosecute the police for the death of his associate.
The police commander said that an inquiry has already been opened by the Attorney General's Office, which "is following its procedures", and that it will be up to the competent organs of justice to determine if "there was any less correct situation" on the part of the officers who questioned Sílvio Dala.
Eugénio Cerqueira said that this intervention "was not an isolated act" and that about 19 agents have already been fined and disciplined for misuse of the mask in Luanda.
Asked about the protest march called by doctors for Saturday, he said that the police have not yet been notified.
"If we are notified and this march complies with the requirements of the law (...) who are we to stop it? We have to protect this demonstration, it's normal for people to demonstrate", he stressed.
The death of the doctor, on September 1, aroused commotion in Angola and criticism from human rights organizations and Angolan personalities who used social networks to express their repudiation, such as the musician and activist Luaty Beirão, the singer Anselmo Ralph and the daughters of former president José Eduardo dos Santos, Isabel dos Santos and Welwitschea "Tchizé" dos Santos.
