Africa-Press – Angola. Two guarantees judges started their activity this Tuesday at the District Court of Menongue, capital of Cuando Cubango, to safeguard the dignity and respect for the fundamental rights of citizens under the law.
These are Judges Adão Domingos Bilhete and Zola do Carmo Miranda.
The guarantees judge is one of the novelties of the new Code of Criminal Procedure, in force since February 2021, being responsible for the application of personal coercive measures, with emphasis on preventive detention, until then in charge of the public prosecutor, in the preparatory instruction phase of the processes.
Wednesday, the presiding judge of the Menongue District Court, Jones Paulo, considered the number of judges made available to the province of Cuando Cubango to be small, at a time when the crime rate in the region tends to increase.
The jurist recalled that the entry of this new figure into the Angolan legal system arises from the reforms of justice and law in operation in Angola, for whom, with this new reality, the rights of detainees, since in 24 hours they will be presented to the guarantee judges for the legalization of preventive detention or other measure, depending on the crime.
Jones Paulo explained that the Menongue Comarca Court does not have the conditions for accommodation or functionality of the guarantees judges, a situation that hopes to have a solution soon, since the provincial government promises to rehabilitate the old AAA building, for the aforementioned court.
As for the judge of guarantees, Adão Bilhete, he defended that the entry of this figure was a great advance, for the guarantee of the rights of the defendant, with the effectiveness of the principle of the accusatory, establishing several entities that participate in the judicial process.
The Menongue District Court currently has 11 effective judges.
The province of Cuando Cubango, with an extension of 199 thousand and 049 square kilometers, has an estimated population of more than 700 thousand inhabitants, distributed in nine municipalities and 32 communes.
For More News And Analysis About Angola Follow Africa-Press
