Angola: Journalist ordered to pay compensation to president

IFEX- News from the international freedom of expression community
_________________________________________________________________

ALERT UPDATE - ANGOLA

24 January 2002

Journalist ordered to pay compensation to president

SOURCE: Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), Windhoek

**Updates IFEX alerts of 15 January 2001, 13 and 12 December, 3 November, 31
October, 11 August, 8 June, 3 April, 31, 29, 24, 21, 17, 10, 9, 7 and 6
March,
22 February, 17 and 13 January 2000, 17 December, 30, 25, 16, 3 and 2
November,
28, 22, 20, 19 and 18 October 1999**

(MISA/IFEX) - Journalist Rafael Marques has been ordered by the Provincial
Court
of Luanda to pay compensation of 30,000 kwanza (approx. US$950) to President
Eduardo dos Santos. After the court found him guilty of defaming, slandering
and
injuring the president. The charge relates to a 3 July 1999 article by
Marques
published in "Agora" newspaper, in which he referred to dos Santos as a
dictator. The article, titled "The Lipstick of Dictatorship", said that dos
Santos was "responsible for the destruction of the country and the promotion
of
corruption".

The court further instructed Marques to pay all legal costs pertaining to
the
suit, as well as those incurred by another colleague charged with the same
offence. "I'm the only one who appeared in court. I've been instructed to
pay
everything within five days and afterwards claim it from the other accused,"
Marques told MISA.

According to Marques, he was not notified of the outcome of an appeal he
made to
the Supreme Court on the matter. In fact, he heard about the final ruling on
the
radio.

Marques says that the courts continue to employ numerous outdated laws to
curtail media freedom and independent reporting. "I've been charged under
three
sets of laws: laws from the old Portuguese colonial regime, communist and
democratic laws. In Angola, we cannot speak of the independence of the
judiciary. In this case, the decision rests squarely with the president," he
told MISA.

Marques' lawyer has presented the option of him arguing "improper
procedures" as
Marques was not informed of the ruling as per normal legal practice. Marques
hopes to have the sentence declared void. "In any case, I cannot be asked to
pay
for something I've not been informed of. It is my right to be duly informed
by
the courts," he said.

BACKGROUND:
Marques was arrested at his home on 16 October 1999. Two days earlier, on 14
October, he was charged with defaming President dos Santos, for having
referred
to him as a dictator in a 3 July 1999 article published in "Agora".

For the first ten days of his detention, Marques was held incommunicado, and
neither his lawyer nor relatives were allowed access to him.

Marques' lawyer at the time, Luis Nascimento, pointed out that there were at
least two procedural irregularities in Marques' continued detention. The
first
was that no one was allowed access to him. The second was that the attorney
general (A.G.) had refused to attend to an application for bail, several
days
after it had been prepared, apparently because the A.G. was "attending a
conference." On 26 October 1999, the A.G. officially refused a bail
application
by Marques.

Marques was apparently charged under Angola's notorious Law 7/78, also known
as
the Law on Crimes Against State Security. Law 7/78 violates Article 35 of
the
1992 Angolan Constitution, which guarantees the right to freedom of
expression.

For further information, contact Zoe Titus or Kaitira Kandjii, Regional
Information Coordinator, MISA, Street Address: 21 Johann Albrecht Street,
Mailing Address; Private Bag 13386 Windhoek, Namibia, tel: +264 61 232975,
fax:
+264 61 248016, e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected],
Internet:
http://www.misa.org/

The information contained in this alert update is the sole responsibility of
MISA. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit
MISA.
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ANNEX

Following is the English translation of Marques' article, which appeared in
"Agora" newspaper on 3 July 1999.

The Lipstick of Dictatorship - Rafael Marques

[The title comes from the translation of the Portuguese word baton, which is
a
play on the word batão, meaning police baton. Earlier reports by MISA
incorrectly stated that the title of the article was "The Big Stick of
Dictatorship".]

The regime is scared! Its mentors, as well as its intellectual wing are
starting
to cling to the war with despair. They can no longer mask that, in fact,
they
are the main instigators of the war in Angola. The main perpetrators of
Savimbi's effect. The eternal blood suckers of the power. Two figures
spearhead
the regime's frontline of intellectual minders: Joao Melo and the grim Costa
Andrade. Both are well-known writers and MPLA Members of Parliament. They
represent and embody the political evilness of MPLA. As there is no ideology
and
values nor any political, social,
economic and cultural achievements to be proud of, both writers still find
themselves in the socialist old days when they used to prosecute change and
independent minds. Both of them still imagine having all the cards in their
hands, whereby they can play and dispose of them as they please. In this
regard,
they have through their writings, forced the children of the poor and
underprivileged to fight without any justifiable cause, but only to preserve
their own complexities and private interests. Joao Melo, in his last week's
opinion column "Multivisions", in "Agora", states that an independent peace
movement coming out of civil society is an opportunist approach. The defence
of
the superior interest of the nation, as well as the well being of the
majority
is,
according to him, naive and an expression of mediocre intelligence.
Everything
is clear now, this gentleman is what one can call a coward belicist. He
wants
war, yes! But one fought by barefoot people and applauded by the rich.
Otherwise, he would have volunteered to join the army. Then, he could head
down
to the bush where he could express his patriotism by, at least, writing the
letters of the illiterate soldiers. These soldiers are as human as anyone
else
and they no longer demand their underpaid salaries, forget about that, they
would only like the chance to communicate with their beloved ones. This
death
messenger has not intervened, at any moment, to sensitise the elite and the
minority group he belongs to in order to send their children to the
military.
Last April's military drafting targeted only the underprivileged. While the
mixed race and the well-to-do blacks stayed at home or left the country.
More
interesting, is the fact that the majority of the top generals and power
holders
of the army are mesticos (Portuguese background mixed races) and whites,
though
these groups are barely seen in the military barracks. Therefore, the role
of
people like Joao Melo is more than evident. It is to defend the power for
power,
the ruling class, their wealth and privileged welfare, and damn the rest. Or
better yet, send the rest to hell!

However, perversity has its universities. Joao Melo skillfully manages to
transform a ripped argument into true silk. "We must destroy the military
machine of Savimbi". In fact, Jonas Savimbi, the UNITA leader, this son of
Africa, so bright as imperfect, is not literally crucified in a public
square
because the regime is unable to put its hands on him. Why? Because the MPLA
regime needs to cover its main handicap. Its main ruling weakness. MPLA and
the
Angolan president, Jose Eduardo dos Santos, bare responsibility for the
destruction of the country and the de facto disaggregation of the State
institutions. Moreover, Dos Santos is accountable for the promotion of
incompetence, embezzlement and corruption as political and social values.
For
MPLA nothing is better than to raise Savimbi to the category of national
obsession in order to hide Dos Santos' political and economic mess, and of
those
ones behind him. Definitely, Dos Santos is the most discreet and astute
chieftain of the authoritarian regimes which have crossed and cursed
Africa's
history. In the country he is the highest example of anti-patriotic
behaviour.
The model of anti-people's leadership. An Angolan writer, Jose Eduardo
Agualusa,
to better clarify the role of leadership and accountability in Angola writes
that "Yes, Savimbi must be brought to trial. But, why only Savimbi? In the
light
of it not being possible to take all the war criminals, then, at least,
their
chiefs must be taken to court: Jonas Savimbi and Jose Eduardo dos Santos.

Hence, the Angolan people want, above all, lasting peace, social justice and
national reconciliation. Because, according to Martin Luther King, we will
never
get rid of an enemy by responding to hate with hate. "By its own nature,
hate
destroys and lacerates; by its own nature, love creates and builds. Love
builds
with its redeemed power".

Neither Jose Eduardo dos Santos nor Savimbi, nor their puppets have such
love
for the country. This then brings up the need for the people themselves to
unite
and peacefully struggle against the war and its promoters.

Joao Melo and Costa Andrade harbour a great scorn for the people. People
must
ask these MPLA Members of Parliament if just once they ever defended the
genuine
interests of the people in the National Assembly. To defend MPLA, because it
is
the only alternative for them to seek the "Passage to India", but not the
majority of the people. As a matter of fact, these individuals have highly
placed themselves in the political pedestal of the Angolan intelligentsia.
In
the Angolan context, intellectual recognition or space comes after political
compromise with MPLA, otherwise it is just suspicion. How often have they
used
their verb to defend the values of the national culture and the traditions
of
the various people of Angola? In Angola, one thing is being an MPLA
intellectual
and the other is being an intellectual who cares about the country. The
latter,
is the one who debates about social and academic issues rather than
interpreting
MPLA's whims. Actually, the political program of MPLA has been transformed
into
UNITA's and vice-versa, at least in tautology. Though, when it comes to
practice
both MPLA and UNITA write in water. The persistence in the war is a pretence
to
cover up the dirt of the power holders. In order to erase from the
collective
memory the need for education, health, social equity, economic development
and
prosperity. Moreover, chaos and war propitiate the ruling of the country
without
internal contest. Particularly when it comes to the killings that undermine
the
"saint' image of the regime. Thabo Mbeki, the current South Africa president
is
an example of the regime's harshness. Who has had the courage to expose what
Mbeki went through when jailed in Luanda, in Estrada de Catete, in 1983,
along
with other countrymen? Who has had the courage to bring up the issue that he
had
been forced to sign a document in which he had to assume a fake coup against
Oliver Tambo?

All because in 1983, 70 South Africa university students, who had joined the
ANC
struggle, were executed in the municipality of Cacuso, in the Northern
province
of Malanje. According to some sources, the ANC men were executed by the
regime
because they refused to fight against UNITA. The sources stated that the
students believed that they were in Angola to receive military training and
then
to be sent back home to fight in their own struggle, and not to join another
country's civil war.

It is said that Thabo Mbeki protested, along with other ANC members, the
killings, and for that he ended up in jail. In the same year, 26 other ANC
members, from a group of 40 who were jailed in Estrada de Catete, were also
executed. The survivors, Grace and Kate, are still around to give an account
of
their nightmare. There are many crimes to reveal and, thanks to God, Thabo
Mbeki
survived to become the president of South Africa. And he has reached out his
hand to Dos Santos who, in turn, refused to attend his inauguration last
June.
Seriousness is in demand for Angola!