Ver Angola

Society

Inocêncio died two years ago in a demonstration. Family still doesn't know why

Inocêncio de Matos was killed two years ago during a demonstration in Luanda, when Angola celebrated 45 years of independence. To this day, those responsible have not been brought to justice and the family is still trying to clarify what happened.

:

It was a special "Dipanda Day", in which Angola celebrated 45 years of independence, conquered after 14 years of war against the Portuguese colonial power, but the covid-19 took the shine off the celebrations of that 11 November.

The highest point was the inauguration of a hotel nationalized by the President, João Lourenço, at the same time that an unauthorized demonstration was approaching the streets of Luanda due to the restrictions of the pandemic. Even so, thousands of young people wanted to express their discontent with the living conditions, joining a protest that ended up overshadowed by clashes between police and protesters, several arrests and the death of the 26-year-old student.

Laura Macedo, activist and one of the organizers of the march that took place that day, has been accompanying the family since then and also continues to wait for justice to be done.

"I felt a bit responsible for that and followed (the family). The truth has to come out, we have to fight for the truth", she demanded, in an interview with Lusa.

Questions remain about the circumstances in which the death of Inocêncio de Matos "Beto" took place.

Eyewitnesses say the student was hit in the head by a bullet as police tried to stop the advancing young protesters and died on the spot. A doctor, however, told another version to the Angolan public television channel (TPA), according to which the young man arrived at the hospital alive, but did not survive a surgical intervention.

In this report, the university student, who was attending the Computer Engineering course at Universidade Agostinho Neto, would have been hit on the head by a "blunt object" that may have been "a stick, a piece of metal, of iron".

The police, in turn, ruled out responsibility and stated that Inocêncio would have fallen when he was fleeing the agents, who did not use live ammunition.

The results of the first autopsy were not accepted by the family, who requested a second independent examination, in the presence of a photographer. According to his lawyer, Zola Bambi, everything points to the fact that the wound that caused Inocêncio de Matos' death was caused by a projectile, which coincides with the witnesses' version.

"The only certainty we have is that the police version is not the correct one, the first version that the police brings to the public is that Inocêncio hit his head on the curb, nobody hits the back of the head on the curb", commented Laura Macedo, next to the Mural da Cidadania, where a painting immortalized Inocêncio de Matos alongside other defenders of human rights and freedom.

"We want the perpetrators to be presented, the police must know, it was the police who put the men on the street, they must know who had bullets, who was at that moment stopping the protesters", complained the Angolan activist, while the lawsuits were filed by the family get stuck in justice.

Laura Macedo recalls that "the kids" who participated in the protest had knelt down and raised their hands "to show that they had nothing to hide".

"It was in this position that Inocêncio was hit, there are witnesses", she stressed.

The activist also pointed out the consequences of the tragedy on the family, "which was very divided", between those "of the system" who tried to hush up the case and other relatives who admit to having suffered pressure.

The house in Luanda, in the neighborhood of São Pedro da Barra, where Inocêncio lived, was abandoned, the family dispersed and Alfredo de Matos, Inocêncio’s father, spoke to Lusa from Namibe, where he is currently living and working, lamenting that Innocent's assassins are at large.

"We have been involved in a series of steps, several contacts, but unfortunately it remains the same", she said, assuming that the family was "deeply shaken" and "traumatized" with the loss of "a boy" on whom everyone counted.

The letters he wrote to the National Assembly and the President of the Republic went unanswered.

"No one cares about doing justice for the death of my son. There is no will on the part of the justice organs to carry out justice, the Angolan authorities do not want to do justice", she said.

In addition to the feeling of injustice, he said that they had suffered "insults from some individuals", probably linked to the case, and that they were "in a way" pressured.

"A series of obstacles in the process, infeasibility in the service, we are attended in a harsh way, almost no one is willing to talk about the subject, a series of situations", she pointed out.

For Laura Macedo, the fateful event did not change the way the police reacted to the demonstrations, which were practically prevented.

"The police simply do not allow the demonstrations, they abort the demonstrations from the neighborhoods where the demonstrators come from. The few who manage to reach the place of concentration are arrested. We had several arrests before the elections, including people who were not even in demonstrations", denounced.

The activist said that the elections left "grief and sadness" with many Angolans and only for that reason "the inner strength" has not yet appeared to promote new protests, as "there is no lack of reasons".

Inocêncio de Matos is honored on Friday at the Church of São Domingos, with an initiative that brings together friends, family and activists in an event that will feature testimonies, music and poetry recitals.

A meeting that Laura Macedo also hopes will mark the end of the post-election reflection period to "return to action".

"The police and the government know what they have to do, they have to accept it, they have to be democrats," she appealed.

Related

Permita anúncios no nosso site

×

Parece que está a utilizar um bloqueador de anúncios
Utilizamos a publicidade para podermos oferecer-lhe notícias diariamente.