In the report for the third quarter of this year on the violation of human rights in Angola, consulted this Monday by Lusa, the limitations of freedoms, the increase in hunger and poverty and the "inability" of the authorities to manage the situation contributed to the "extremes" recorded in this period.
Qualified homicide in Benguela, where a young woman was allegedly shot by an agent from the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) in July, intimidation of an activist in the same province and violations of the rights to freedom, information, expression and demonstration in Luanda in the months of August and September are reported by the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO).
The NGO documents, with images, the arrest of activists who were protesting in the capital against the Law on Crimes of Vandalism of Public Goods and Services, with intimidation including against Lusa journalists, who were covering the demonstration.
According to the report, violations of the right to physical freedom and abuse of power were also recorded during this period, where two activists and a teacher were victims who, in the municipality of Viana, in Luanda, held prayers in front of a school, demanding better conditions in public schools.
During this period, arbitrary arrests of activists were also recorded in a demonstration that "demanded" the release of so-called "political prisoners", notably the activist Adolfo Campos, Hermenegildo José "Gildo das Ruas", Gilson Moreira "Taneice Neutro" and Abraão dos Santos "Pensador", imprisoned for more than a year.
For the NGO, these cases recorded in its new quarterly report "will be far from the totality of occurrences in Angola, as these are daily", he highlights, remembering that the social environment, with poverty that "has been increasing, is fertile for development of extremes and the congenital incapacity of the pseudo-Government to manage the situation".
"Instruments of control and repression have been approved that restrict civic space, being, in themselves, contrary to the spirit of fundamental freedoms and, consequently, the Constitution, such as laws against vandalism and national security", reads the report.
"We continue, with great regret, to see overwhelming evidence of the limitation of civic space in Angola, characterized by arbitrary obstacles to the holding of demonstrations, marches and any protestive acts", laments the NGO.
He adds that the said restrictions represent not only flagrant violations of citizens' fundamental rights, "but also an attack on the very essence of democracy and the rule of law".
Freedom of expression and demonstration in Angola "seems to be subject to selective criteria, being granted to those who support the current political regime or prominent figures within the dominant party", he further observes.
