"They Put Me in the Hole"
22 juin 2009

III. Recommendations

To the President and Government of Angola

  • Take all necessary measures to ensure that the Angolan Armed Forces act in accordance with Angola’s obligations under international human rights and humanitarian law.
  • Ensure that persons taken into custody are promptly brought before an independent officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power, and held only in official places of detention; that all detainees are provided with immediate and regular access to family members and legal counsel, and that criminal proceedings are in accordance with international fair trial standards.
  • Ensure that coerced confessions, particularly those made under torture, are not admitted as evidence against persons at trial and that prosecutors and judges have the independence to investigate torture and illegal detention by any branch of the military and domestic intelligence services, free from obstruction or interference.
  • Release prisoners that have been convicted in unfair trials or appropriately retry them in accordance with international fair trial standards.
  • Provide adequate remedies, including compensation, for persons arbitrarily arrested or tortured or otherwise mistreated in detention.
  • Ensure that military and intelligence officers committing torture or other human rights violations against persons in their custody are appropriately disciplined or prosecuted.
  • Allow independent scrutiny of detention facilities where detainees allege having been held illegally and tortured by security forces, including the detention center at the headquarters of the second regional command of the Angolan Armed Forces and all military garrisons.
  • Set up an independent and impartial inquiry into human rights violations committed by the Angolan Armed Forces and branches of intelligence services, including the arbitrary detention of persons in military custody.
  • Ratify the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and its Optional Protocol and allow visits by the Protocol’s Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture.