Africa-Press – Angola. The president of the Angolan Bar Association (OAA), Luís Domingos, defended, this Tuesday, in Luanda, the reinforcement of the right to the presumption of innocence of defendants during criminal proceedings, to safeguard their image.
The position was defended at the opening of the seminar on the relationship between the presumption of innocence, preservation of the right to image and information, organized by the OAA, having brought together judicial magistrates and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, journalists, academics, criminal investigators, among others.
According to the president of the OAA, the presumption of innocence, image rights and information constitute the three pillars for the construction of any State of Law, but in daily practice they frequently clash.
“Information is a right, but judging publicly, without evidence, is not informing, it is destroying. Investigating is necessary, but exposing the face of a suspect, before even being heard, is not an investigation, it is a violation of human dignity. Society has the right to know, but citizens have the right to be treated as innocent, until evidence is found ,” he stressed.
Regarding the seminar, he said that the objective is to provide an in-depth reflection on the central theme of the event, especially in the context of media coverage of criminal cases.
For the president, the initiative is the beginning of a necessary approach, in which the OAA will be at the forefront to defend what is fair, balanced and constitutionally correct.
“It is not about censoring journalists, nor about limiting investigation. It is about remembering that there are rights that, once violated, cannot be restored,” he stressed.
He stressed that the Bar Association believes in the power of interdisciplinary dialogue, highlighting that together it is possible to build ethical and operational guidelines that serve justice.
The seminar took place at the Journalists’ Training Centre (Cefojor) and aimed to promote technical and multidisciplinary reflection on the balance between the presumption of innocence, the safeguarding of citizens’ image and the exercise of the right to information, especially in the context of media coverage of criminal proceedings.
During the workshop, topics such as “The presumption of innocence: constitutional and legal foundations”, “Exception to the principle of presumption and the limits of social communication” and “Media coverage of criminal cases: right to information vs. right to protection of image and honor” were addressed.
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