Africa-Press – Angola. The five Angolan fishermen acquitted Tuesday by the High Court of Ponta Negra, Republic of Congo, for lack of evidence, arrived in Cabinda on Wednesday by land, at the Massabi border.
The said fishermen were released after paying a fine of 35,000 CFA, equivalent to around 27,000 kwanzas, an amount deposited by the Consulate of Angola in Ponta-Negra.
Arrested on 8 January last, the five fishermen spent 50 days in preventive detention in the central prison of Maison D’Arrêt, in the city of Ponta-Negra.
One of the fishermen, Agostinho Barros, discouraged shipowners and other fishermen from fishing in the northern part of the Cabinda Sea, at the risk of entering the territorial waters of the neighboring country.
The five fishermen denied deliberately violating Congolese waters. They claimed to have arrived in the territorial waters of the Republic of Congo due to strong winds that dragged the vessel they were on, after an engine failure.
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