Journalist on trial in landmark case

In what has been called landmark case by international rights organisations, the trial of Rafael Marques, an Angolan journalist charged with defaming President Jose Eduardo dos Santos, was scheduled to start in the capital, Luanda, on Tuesday.

Marques, Angolan representative of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, was arrested last October and later charged with defamation arising out of an article published by his newspaper, ‘Folha 8’. The case has been closely followed by Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and other groups.

Jeanette Minnie, Regional Director of the Namibia-based Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) told IRIN: “MISA considers the trial to be a case of landmark significance as it challenges the validity of the notorious Angolan Press Law.”

She said she had written to the court, not to condemn the Office of the President, but to point out MISA’s concern that “the most delicate and tarnished victim” of events surrounding this trial is the Constitution of Angola.

She pointed out that Marques had been charged with defamation of the president under the previously repealed Angolan Press Law of 1978.

“MISA also reminds Your Honour that Marques’ immediate detention on October 16, 1999, which lasted for 41 days, violated Article 38 of the Constitution of Angola, which states the right of anyone arrested to be brought before a judge so that the court can decide on the lawfulness of detention,” she said in the letter. “MISA views this as an act in defiance of legal procedures against a citizen’s freedom of expression. The incident has not only led us to question the capacity of the President to hold a sober ear to the voice of criticism, but questions his adherence to the constitutional, legal process.”

Minnie also said in her letter that the charge of defamation of the president does not provide an opportunity for a sound defence based on truth, public interest and malicious intent. “We also wish to argue for the basic principle that a trial is not a trial without a defence. In the history of all democratic societies, even the guiltiest criminals have been entitled to a defence,” the letter added.