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Angola CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Criminal Justice System
The Ministry of Justice administered the civil legal
and penal
systems, although its jurisdictional boundaries with the
Ministry
of State Security, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry
of
Defense, and the regional military councils were unclear.
The
civilian court system, known as the People's Revolutionary
Tribunal
(Tribunal Popular Révolucionario), was established in 1976
to deal
with capital offenses against national security. These
courts had
jurisdiction over crimes against the security of the
state,
mercenary activities, war crimes, and so-called crimes
against
humanity, and they could unilaterally assume jurisdiction
over any
criminal case that had a significant impact on national
security
(see Judicial System
, ch. 4). Such tribunals, composed of
three to
five judges, were established in each provincial capital
but
administered by a national directorate in Luanda. In late
1988,
Fernando José de Franca Dias Van Dúnem had been minster of
justice
since February 1986, when he had succeeded Diógenes
Boavida.
In 1983 military tribunals were set up in each military
region
and empowered to try crimes against the security of the
state,
including alleged offenses committed on behalf of UNITA
such as
terrorism, espionage, treason, sabotage, destabilization,
and armed
rebellion; "economic crimes" such as speculation,
hoarding, and
currency violations; disobedience of directives from the
regional
military council; and other acts that might "damage or
endanger the
interests of collective defense and security." The
independence of
the judicial structure and process was severely
circumscribed by
political control of the court system and the fact that
the judges
of the military tribunals were military officers whose
appointment,
reassignment, and removal were controlled by the minister
of
defense. Military courts frequently handed down death
sentences,
which were usually carried out by firing squad. Although
persons
sentenced to death by military courts were legally
entitled to
automatic appeal to the Armed Forces Military Tribunal,
the highest
military court, such appeals were not known to have been
lodged.
Article 23 of the Constitution provides that citizens
shall not
be arrested and tried except in accordance with the terms
of law
and states the right of accused persons to legal defense.
However,
the extent to which these provisions were observed was
uncertain.
Amnesty International, a human rights organization,
reported the
detention without charge or trial of dozens of political
prisoners
and trials by military tribunals of hundreds who were not
given
adequate opportunity to prepare their defense or appeal
sentences.
Angolan law provided that persons suspected of having
committed
serious crimes against the security of the state could be
detained
without charge by the Ministry of State Security for up to
three
months and that this period could be extended an
additional three
months. Unlike common criminals, such detainees did not
have to be
brought before a judge within forty-eight hours of arrest
and could
not challenge the basis of detention. Political prisoners
had to be
informed of the accusations against them after six months
in
detention and then had to be referred to a public
prosecutor or
released. If charges were pressed, there was no stated
time period
within which a trial had to be held, and delays of several
years
were common.
Data as of February 1989
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