Africa-Press – Angola. The Supreme Court (TS) on Monday, in Luanda, rejected all the preliminary questions presented by the defence of the defendants in the trial involving generals Kopelipa and Dino, regarding lifting the ban on them leaving the country.
The Judge-Rapporteur, Anabela Valente, presented the answers to the preliminary questions raised in the second session of this trial, which began on March 10 of this year and was suspended several times due to the absence of the defendant “China International Found (CIF) Angola”, who will be tried in absentia.
In presenting the aforementioned issues, the defence requested the acquittal of the defendants, the application of the Amnesty Law, referring to the 2016 Law that granted amnesty to all crimes punishable by imprisonment of up to 12 years, between November 11, 1975 and November 11, 2015, excluding the crime of embezzlement, also requesting the prescription of some crimes and the nullification of the process, as well as the lifting of personal coercion measures that prohibit people from leaving the country.
The defendants Manuel Hélder Vieira Dias “Kopelipa” and Leopoldino Fragoso do Nascimento “Dino”, the two accused of defrauding the Angolan State of millions of dollars, Yiu Haiming, Fernando Gomes, the companies Plansmart International Limited, Utter Right International Limited and CIF are accused of crimes of embezzlement, fraud, document forgery, criminal association, abuse of power, money laundering and influence peddling.
The companies were allegedly used by the defendants to set up the scheme, involving a financing agreement between Angola and China to support national construction after the civil war, which also included CIF and its affiliates, as well as the national oil company Sonangol, whose former chairman Manuel Vicente is mentioned several times in the indictment.
In response, the court ruled that these were not preliminary issues, at least three allegations by the defence, but rather matters of law, and also did not accept the request for amnesty for the defendants Manuel Hélder Vieira Dias Júnior “Kopelipa” and Leopoldino Fragoso do Nascimento “Dino”, because their last acts of criminal conduct were committed in June 2020.
According to the judge, due to continued crimes, with the last act committed in June 2020, “it is outside the Amnesty Law, because the facts happened later”.
Regarding the request to lift the coercive measure of banning the defendants from leaving the country, for the defendants Kopelipa”, Dino, Yiu Haiming and Fernando Gomes, the court considered that the defendants are complying with the measure beyond the established deadlines, however, since the trial sessions of this case are ongoing, “the rights of the collective and the individual rights of the defendants are in dispute”, with the former prevailing.
“With the course of the trial, we are faced with two fundamental rights, for the individual and for society, because, on the one hand, we have the physical freedom of the defendants, on the other hand we have the right to social peace as enshrined in articles 11 and 36 of the Constitution”, he stressed.
The defendants’ lawyers, not agreeing with the answers, filed an appeal, which the court admitted as “legitimate”.
However, with the conclusion of the mentioned moment, the judge moved on to questioning the defendants, but the defence claimed the right to contest the Public Prosecutor’s accusation, a request accepted by the court.
In the complaint all the lawyers reiterated their request for acquittal of the defendants.
The public defender of CIF Angola, who requested five days to contact the prosecution and be familiar with the content of the indictment, must submit its defence in writing, which will be attached to the case file.
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