Jurists contacted by Lusa believe that although the Angolan Criminal Procedure Code (CPP) does not foresee exceptions for detentions, there may be political-legal agreements in the case of the entry into Angola of José Eduardo dos Santos’ children.
The deputy attorney general of the Republic, Mota Liz, assured on Monday, quoted by the Angolan weekly Novo Jornal, that the daughters of former President José Eduardo dos Santos could enter and leave Angola to participate in the funeral ceremonies of their father, without fear of being arrested.
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The official, who was speaking during the wake of the former Angolan president, said that “people are not arrested on days of death,” since “the law itself excludes this possibility.
However, jurists contacted by Lusa said that there are no exceptions provided in the Angolan legislation, namely in the CPP, admitting, however, exceptions of political-legal nature in certain occasions, through agreements.
“Being this negotiation (for the translation of Eduardo dos Santos’ body) of political-legal nature, an exception can be made, there will be a kind of suspension of the law in a certain moment to fulfill the agreement that will be reached or that is being negotiated, in principle this is it”, said the lawyer Sebastião Vinte e Cinco to Lusa.
According to him, the rule is, if there is a warrant, that people are arrested where they are or where they are found, even if they were at the wake.
“Of course it won’t be while the funeral is taking place, they should wait when it’s over, for example, in fact there are international examples of that,” he indicated.
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“The normal course is to proceed like this, but taking into account the political-legal negotiation that is underway, and which we hope will be successful as soon as possible to close this issue, there will be this exception here,” argued the jurist.
To support his arguments, Sebastião Vinte e Cinco, even stressed that democracy is driven “by the empire of laws”, but noted: “we all know that political agreements often eclipse the law, or some elements of the law”.
“They have to do with the public interest in a certain context, we see, for example, that although there was a revised Constitution, in 1992, we had a GURN (Government of Unity and National Reconciliation) that was not foreseen in the Constitution, so it was a political agreement and it was necessary in that context to implement the peace agreement,” he exemplified.
“We think that this is a calming and appropriate measure to promote political stability and to bury the former President in safe conditions for all those who come to the funeral ceremony,” concluded the jurist.
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Article 255 of the CPP stipulates the requirements for arrest warrants, and no exceptions are mentioned in any chapter of the CPP.
Contacted by Lusa, jurist Rui Verde said that the CPP “specifies the conditions under which people can be detained, but does not mention exceptions for deaths, marriages or other occasions.
“(This reference) could appear as general legislation in the Code of Civil Procedure, or be some subsidiary law, but I find it very difficult for it to exist outside the CPP,” he said.
