The activists should never have been detained in the first place. Their continued detention is a sign of how far Angolan authorities will go to suppress dissent. In December 2015, Anacleto Ngala Mbiquila, Tempo’s secretary, was arrested. The reasons for his arrest are unknown. In February 2016 Lawyers for Lawyers called on the authorities to drop the charges against Arão Bula Tempo if they had been brought against him solely because of his human rights work and his exercise of his right to freedom of expression. Despite worldwide condemnation, the group of 17 were sentenced in March 2016, with sentences ranging from two years to eight-years-and six-months for “rebellion against the president of the republic, criminal association and falsifying documents”. Activist Domingos da Cruz, singled-out as the group’s ‘leader’, was given an eight-and-a-half year sentence for planning a coup and for criminal association. 18 So This is Democracy? 2015