NEW YORK, March 13,
2012 -
The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns today's Angolan police
raid at the independent weekly Folha 8, which was conducted in
connection with a politicized investigation into the publication of a
satirical photo montage. Officers confiscated all of Folha 8's
computers, effectively crippling the operations of one of the country's
two remaining independent publications.
About 15 officers of the
Angolan National Directorate of Criminal Investigations arrived at the
Luanda offices of Folha 8 at around 1 p.m., the paper's editor-in-chief,
Fernando Baxi, told CPJ. The officials took away about 20 computers
from the newsroom, António Setas, the paper's deputy director, told CPJ.
Officials also forced Baxi to remove the battery of his cell phone
during the seizure to prevent him from communicating with anyone, Setas
said.
In an interview with the
Portugal-based news agency LUSA today, Folha 8 editor William Tonet said
the raid was connected to a public prosecutor's December 2011 criminal
investigation into the paper's re-publication of an Internet photo
montage lampooning President José Eduardo dos Santos, Vice President
Fernando Piedade Dias dos Santos, and Gen. Manuel Helder Vieira Dias
Júnior Kopelipa, the military adviser to the president. No formal
charges in the investigation have been filed, but the newspaper's
computers could be used as evidence against them in the case, local
journalists told CPJ.
CPJ obtained a copy of the
search and seizure warrant signed by Public Prosecutor João Vemba Coca,
which called on Angolan police to seize all computers and tools used to
commit "acts that constitute the crime of outrage against the state,
the person of the president, and the organs of the executive." Folha 8
has reported on government corruption and has also covered the recent
anti-government protests challenging Dos Santos' 32 years of rule,
according to CPJ research. Without its computers, the paper is unable to
publish.
Angolan police spokesman Carmo Neto did not immediately return CPJ's calls for comment.
"The seizure of Folha
8'scomputers is a crude act of censorship meant to silence one of the
few remaining independent news outlets in Angola," said CPJ Africa
Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita. "Satire is not an outrage against
the state-it's an important part of robust debate in a free society. We
call on authorities to return Folha 8'sequipment at once and put an end
to this politically motivated investigation."
Journalists at Folha 8
have been targeted before. In October 2010, authorities handed Tonet a
one-year suspended prison sentence and a fine of 10 million kwanza
(US$105,000), which he is still appealing. The journalist had written
stories alleging corruption and abuse of power by five senior officials
close to Dos Santos, according to local journalists.
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