Africa-Press – Angola. The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Joel Leonardo, Tuesday in Mbanza Kongo ensured work to make justice quicker and closer to the citizen, highlighting the creation of court of appeals, in 2017, and the guarantee judge, in May of this year.
Speaking at a meeting with members of the local government, chaired by the provincial governor, Adriano Mendes de Carvalho, Joel Leonardo considered the appearance of the Courts of Appeal as a huge step towards consolidating the Democratic State and the rule of law in Angola.
He also referred to the figure of the guarantee judge, an equidistant entity that guarantees the fundamental rights and freedoms of citizens.
It should be remembered that the province of Zaire has five guarantee judges, three in Mbanza Kongo and two in Soyo, whose activities cover the other municipalities in the region, serving a universe of approximately 600 thousand inhabitants.
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and of the Superior Council of the Judiciary has already visited the Nkiende prison, located 32 kilometers from the city of Mbanza Kongo, which currently houses 758 inmates of both sexes.
Severe punishment for fuel smuggling crimes
Joel Leonardo defended the application of severe penalties to discourage the smuggling of fuel to neighboring countries.
To this end, he defended the need to review the penal framework applied to these cases, as he considered it to be still lenient.
“The recommendation is in the sense of protecting our national wealth, and fuel is one of them and constitutes a heritage, so we must fight and overcome this challenge”, he underlined.
He said it was time to think about introducing more norms incriminating this phenomenon, very frequent in the border municipalities of the province of Zaire, having suggested to the legislator the need to review the related penal framework.
He explained that his three-day visit, which started this Tuesday, also aims to assess all the details related to the trafficking of fuel to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), stressing that the current penal framework has proved powerless to discourage this phenomenon.
It should be noted that the current criminal framework applied to fuel smugglers provides for a longer prison term of six months to three years or a fine of two to four times the customs value of the goods seized, according to the General Tax Code.
Governor defends speed in processing criminal cases
In turn, the governor of the province of Zaire, Adriano Mendes de Carvalho, defended, on the occasion, speed in the processing of criminal proceedings in the region, having expressed institutional support to local bodies for the administration of justice.
“Procedural speed is a preponderant factor for the effectiveness of good justice, it shows and transmits confidence to citizens who resort to the courts in search of solutions for different situations”, he stressed.
He recognized the current difficulties that the local courts are facing in terms of human resources and infrastructure which, according to the governor, have negatively influenced their normal functioning.
The work program of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in Zaire reserves a visit to the building of the Cormarca Court of Mbanza Kongo, where he will hold a separate meeting with the judicial magistrates and officials of this institution.
Verification of the operation of the facilities that house the Criminal Investigation Service (SIC), Migration and Foreigners Service (SME) and the Department of Criminal Illicit Investigation (DIIP) are also on the agenda.
The visiting delegation, which includes the Member of the Superior Councilor of the Judiciary, Carlos Alberto Cavuquila, has planned, this Wednesday, a trip to the municipalities of Nzeto and Soyo, where it will carry out an identical journey.
For More News And Analysis About Angola Follow Africa-Press
