In the complaint addressed to the Superior Council of the Judiciary (CSMJ), to which Lusa had access, Lussati's lawyers, the main protagonist of a scandal that involved the Security House of the President of the Republic, ask for the initiation of disciplinary proceedings against the Judge Eduardo Samuco and his suspension from the position of presiding judge of the Court of Appeal of Luanda, for “demonstrating inability” to administer justice.
Pedro Lussati, who has been in preventive detention since May 2021, was sentenced last November to 14 years in prison for the crimes of embezzlement, money laundering and fraud in transporting currency abroad (sentence reduced by two years), but the sentence has not yet become final.
In an order in which he denied the request for “habeas corpus”, judge Eduardo Samuco argued that the release “would generate a situation of danger for social peace and public tranquility”, due to the “sense of repudiation and widespread revolt of the communities regarding the phenomenon of corruption”.
In the complaint filed this Thursday, Lussati's lawyers point out that the defendant was “kidnapped” allegedly by the intelligence services, and has been in preventive detention for 24 months, already exceeding all deadlines by four months, which gave rise to the request for “habeas corpus”, and they say that the judge based the decision “on assumptions and conclusions”.
For Lussati's lawyers, the grounds invoked by the judge “violate the Constitution and the law”.
“It is a decision based on the political bias linked to the process, on the sensationalism of the press, on the popular condemnation of the accused, on the bias of the judge, as it is clear that the Court has stopped administering justice in the name of the people”, say the defenders of the major.
“We can clearly see a retreat to the era of the primitive, totalitarian, despotic, narcissistic State, as the defendant is being considered and treated as the object of the process, as the objectification of the defendant drives the taking of similar decisions, already deliberately ignoring himself. the status of defendant”, reads the document consulted by Lusa.
Lawyers point out illegalities, arbitrariness and abuse of power to the judge, who they accuse of “partiality” and argue that the courts must comply with and respect the preventive detention periods provided for by law.
Pedro Lussati, assigned to the President of the Republic's Security House, was arrested in possession of millions of euros, kwanzas and dollars.
The major of the Angolan Armed Forces was acquitted of the crimes of improperly receiving an advantage, economic participation in business, abuse of power, illicit introduction of foreign currency into the country, prohibition of payment in cash and illegal currency trading due to "insufficiency of evidence".
The case involved 49 defendants, including high-ranking military and civilian officials, allegedly involved in the diversion of millions of dollars through a fraudulent scheme to pay inflated salaries and to "ghost" employees in units assigned to the President's Security House.
