In the video in question, three young workers from a Chinese company involved in the work on the New “Agostinho Neto” International Airport, which the President of the Republic João Lourenço visited on the 3rd, say they will receive “our thief” and criticize the State’s overspending .
“All the state's money is here and the people are starving”, says one of the young people, criticizing the fact that some construction workers earn more than a teacher.
“For those who come from outside, see our country and say Angola is no longer hungry”, he continues, showing the modern infrastructure that began to be developed 25 years ago and whose cost in 2017 already exceeded more than 6 billion dollars.
"There are a lot of people suffering, a lot of people who haven't eaten for I don't know how many days, who don't study due to lack of conditions, many teachers who no longer want to teach because they are poorly paid, others who are corrupt because the State pays poorly", he is indignant.
Luanda's Criminal Investigation Service (SIC) announced the arrest of one of the three young men, aged 24, and is taking steps to find the other two, who are on the run.
"They produced an insulting video, a video with offensive content", said Manuel Halaiwa, director of the Institutional Communication and Press Office of SIC, explaining that crimes of outrage against the State, defamation and slander against the President of the Republic and his symbols.
“This video went viral on social networks and damages the image of the State representative and his symbols”, he underlined, reinforcing SIC's appeal to young people to “use social networks for positive purposes”.
The crime of outrage against the State, its symbols and bodies is set out in Article 333, introduced in 2020 in the new Penal Code. The controversial article raised criticism from various quarters of society, with the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Francisco Queiroz, guaranteeing that the objective was not to prevent criticism of the actions of the President of the Republic.
Paragraph 1 of the said article establishes that "whoever, publicly, and with the intention of offending, outraging by words, images, writings, drawings or sounds, the Republic of Angola, the President of the Republic or any other sovereign body is punished with a prison sentence of 6 months to 3 years or a fine of 60 to 360 days".
In an interview with the Public Television of Angola in November 2020, Francisco Queiroz stressed that that article was intended to protect the good name, honor and dignity of people, a protection that would be reinforced by being applied to national symbols and the President of the Republic.
The minister also guaranteed that the publication of caricatures would not be prohibited, thus contradicting the fears of some opinion makers.
At the time, non-governmental organizations such as Friends of Angola were concerned about the criminalization of young civic and political activists, due to the introduction of Article 333.º and appealed to the President of the Republic to stop the measure.
Some jurists also warned at the time that this rule could pose a threat to freedom of expression and the press.
