Africa-Press – Angola. Judge Andrade da Silva suspended, Friday (1), the trial sessions of the “Lussati Case”, without an indicative date for the resumption of work.
The decision was taken on the third day of hearings, moments after a consultation meeting, behind closed doors, between judges, prosecutors and defense lawyers.
Andrade da Silva informed the hearing that attorney Picasso Andrade had filed a complaint regarding the indictment order. As it is still pending and the lawyer has not been notified, the trial sessions are suspended until a decision is made.
Picasso Costa de Andrade, lawyer for defendant José Chiwane, filed an appeal on 25 March against the ruling of the judge in the case. In his order, he indicated that the defendant committed 11 crimes as opposed to the five listed in the indictment.
Dissatisfied with the judge’s decision, the lawyer filed an appeal and that, under the law, the whole process should be suspended until the Luanda Court of Appeal, the competent body, responds. Only then should the trial sessions begin.
Picasso Costa de Andrade, in statements to the press, said that the judge’s decision corresponded to the expectations of the defense, insofar as the Law must be respected and that the indictment must be made in the same terms established by the Law.
Yesterday’s session was marked by a meeting, behind closed doors, between judges, prosecutors and lawyers, to analyze the functioning of the trials, following the disagreement that occurred in the previous round and which led to the fainting of the defendant José Amado and replacement of the lawyer. Jorge Golfo Afonso.
The judge accepted the lawyer’s apology and reconsidered the decision. “Given the retraction of the illustrious representative of the defendant Joaquim José Amado, after consideration by this court, he is admitted to intervene in the aforementioned defendant’s records”, he said.
The trial involves the defendants Pedro Lussati, Fernando Moisés Dumbo and 47 other people, accused of crimes of embezzlement, criminal association, undue receipt of advantages, economic participation in business, abuse of power, fraud in the transport or transfer of currency abroad country.
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