After five years of arbitrary detention, Carlos Manuel de São Vicente appeals once again to UN experts
Geneva, 13 October, 2025 – Mr. Carlos de São Vicente has appealed to the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, and to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment, after beginning his sixth year in detention in Viana prison (Luanda Province), on 22 September 2025.
In a 38-page joint communication to both UN experts, Mr. Carlos de São Vicente denounces the continued undue interference of the Angolan government at all stages of the proceedings, while the Angolan press has repeatedly reported, over the last few months, on corruption scandals involving judges and prosecutors, including in relation to Mr. São Vicente’s case. He also exposes the deplorable conditions in which he continues to be detained, in disregard of his dignity and his particularly fragile state of health – he has developed 4 new diseases in detention, in addition to the 3 with which he was already afflicted when he was taken into Viana Prison – leading him to another hospitalization on 29 September 2025, abruptly interrupted without finishing all treatment and medical examinations, 1 October 2025.
Mr. Carlos de São Vicente’s decision to call on the UN experts was made after he faced the Angolan authorities’ persistent refusal to release him, despite the UN Working Group on Arbitrary detention (UNWGAD)’s Opinion dated November 14th, 2023, urging Angola to set him free. Since then, ‘no action has been taken by the Government to implement the opinion’, as pointed by the 2024 Annual Report of the UNWGAD, while, in accordance with Article 13 of the Angolan Constitution, the Opinion is directly applicable in Angola.
The Angolan authorities are therefore determined to prevent his release by all means, even though he is legally entitled to parole, having served two-thirds of his sentence.
Lawyers François Zimeray and Jessica Finelle, declare: “ Our client should already have been released many months ago. This is all the more the case today, after five years in arbitrary detention. In addition, while hundreds of Angolan detainees have benefitted, in the past few months, from a presidential pardon, only a desire for revenge can explain why Mr. São Vicente, who is eligible for parole and is very weak physically, remains in jail. This has nothing to do with justice”.
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