Angola Defamation continues to be a crime punishable by imprisonment in Angola and under its 2006 Press law, journalists who criticise the government face grave reprisals. The authorities continue to use this law to silence journalists who expose corruption in the state or private sector. If found guilty, De Morais faces nine years in jail and libel fees of £800,000 (R14 333 246.69). This despite the December 2014 decision by the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which found it is a violation of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (African Charter) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) to hand down prison sentences as penalties for defamation. Angola is a State Party to the African Charter and the ICCPR, yet the government is clearly not upholding citizens’ right to freedom of expression. In another example of authorities using the law to harass and threaten, on 7 February, radio journalist Queirós Anastácio Chiluvia received a six-month suspended jail sentence and $600 fine on charges of slander and defamation after he broadcast detainees calling for help for one of their fellow detainees, who was very ill. Chiluvia is the news director of Radio Despertar, a station funded by the main opposition party Unita. Chiluvia was convicted on charges of defamation, offending the police and working illegally as a journalist. The six-month sentence was suspended for two years. Chiluvia heard the detainees’ cries as he was passing the police station in Cacuaco, a suburb of the capital, Luanda, on 2 February. He went into the police station to ask for an official explanation 20 So This is Democracy? 2014 or statement about the cries, which were coming from detainees calling for help for a fellow inmate who was gravely ill with tuberculosis. When the police ignored his questions, Chiluvia broadcast the cries for help live on Radio Despertar. As a result, he was arrested and held for five days without being charged or tried. On 7 February, he was finally brought before a judge, who convicted him and then released him after he had paid 2,000 dollars in bail. The detainee with tuberculosis was transferred to hospital after Chiluvia’s radio broadcast, but died a few hours later. JOURNALIST SAFETY Angolan authorities have demonstrated a worrying trend of trampling on the right to free expression among both media workers and the general public, with a particular focus on restricting the right to free assembly by violently breaking up protests and public gatherings and preventing people from expressing their opinions. Between May and October there were at least eight incidents where police used excessive force to break up youth demonstrations in Luanda, where the majority of protesters were doing so silently with only hand written messages. Police arrested dozens of people on arbitrary grounds. On November 23, youth activist Laurinda Gouveia endured two hours of brutal attack at the hands of police and state security. The attack took place in a school, where police arrested her for taking pictures of police mistreating two youth demonstrators at Independence Square in Luanda.