Africa-Press – Angola. The reading of the sentence in the trial of the former municipal administrator of Humpata, Huíla province, initially scheduled for this Tuesday, was postponed by the Lubango District Court until Friday (15), due to the work stoppage of the magistrates of the Public Ministry (MP).
The information was provided to the press by the judge in the case, Anacleto Kavonguelwa Kambuta, highlighting that, as the presence of the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the trial hearing was mandatory and it was not possible to replace it with another judge, the reading of the sentence was suspended.
In turn, one of the defense lawyers, Felizardo Capaxe, highlighted that “this postponement is not good” for legal operators who depend exclusively on their constituents, but that “he is in solidarity” with the concerns presented by the Public Ministry.
“Finally, we are all legal practitioners and it is a profession that must be carried out with as much legitimacy as possible. For this reason, we sympathize with the MP, given the claims they present,” he said.
On the other hand, he continued, it is the law that the absence of the Public Prosecutor’s Office at the hearing is sufficient cause for the hearing to be postponed, under penalty of it being considered null and void.
The process began in October 2023, with four hearing sessions, in which evidence was produced and discussed to discover the material truth of the facts that affect the former administrator of Humpata.
The defendant was in charge of the municipality at the consulate of the then governor Marcelino Tyipinge and was accused of crimes of influence peddling, embezzlement, improper receipt of values and violation of the rules for implementing the plan and budget, carried out from 2014 to 2018, according to the Ministry Public.
The criminal proceedings were triggered, in July 2018, by the fact that the company OVC, owned by co-defendant Avelino Guilherme, his compadre, proceeded with the construction of a school with seven classrooms without the act having been submitted to a public tender, taking into account the value of the contract.
The works were estimated at more than 40 million kwanzas, which were paid in full.
In the last session, the MP asked the Lubango District Court to acquit Paula Nassone and the other six defendants, due to insufficient evidence.
The MP concluded that, during the investigation of the case, “no evidence was produced in the true sense of the word to convict them”.
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