Angola’s judicial authorities persist in refusing to release Carlos Manuel de São Vicente despite him having served half his sentence, and against the UN appeal to free him immediately
Geneva, July 2nd, 2024
On 26 June 2024, Mr Carlos de São Vicente, even being innocent, served half the sentence of 10 years of prison he was arbitrarily convicted to by an illegal and ungrounded judgement of conviction dated 23 March 2022 confirmed in appeal. This should have, according to Angolan law, led to the conditional release of a man whose health is fragile and who does not present any form of danger whatsoever, likely to impact the legal order or social peace.
To this date, all the requests of his lawyers to demand his release have been left unanswered. Mr Carlos de São Vicente is still in detention in Viana, and his release does not seem to be on the agenda of the Angolan authorities.
Beyond not complying with Angolan law, the Angolan authorities are also violating their international commitments by refusing to implement the Opinion 63-2023 issued by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary detention on November 14th, 2023, urging them to release Mr Carlos de São Vicente immediately after finding his detention arbitrary and in contravention of such gravity with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, both ratified by Angola. In accordance with Article 13 of the Angolan Constitution, the Opinion is directly applicable in Angola. In fact, his prolonged detention appears like a response to the failure of the Angolan government to repatriate Mr. Carlos de São Vicente’s foreign assets to date. Indeed, legal authorities in
Switzerland, Singapour, Portugal and Bermudes have so far shown extreme caution in dealing with requests for international cooperation emanating from Angola, in light of the fundamental unfairness of the procedure as exposed by the compelling UN Opinion.
This shows once more the highly political nature of the case and the real aim of the Angolan authorities, i.e. the illegal appropriation of funds belonging to Mr Carlos São Vicente. This relentless campaign against Mr. São Vicente must cease and the Angolan authorities must release him immediately.
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