Angolan journalist and human rights activist Rafael Marques was released on bail on Thursday having spent nearly six weeks in detention, reports said on Friday.
Prior to his release Marques, 28, was finally charged with criminally defaming Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos. Under Angolan law the charge of criminal defamation carries a maximum sentence of one year’s imprisonment. The trial has been scheduled for 15 December and in the interim he has been forbidden from making any public statements.
The charges arise from an article he wrote in July entitled ‘The Dictatorship’s Lipstick’. In the article Marques accused dos Santos of being one of Africa’s worst dictators and of profiting personally from the country’s ongoing civil war.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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