**Updates IFEX alerts of 25 November, 16 November, 3 November, 2 November, 28 October, 22 October, 20 October, 19 October and 18 October 1999** (CPJ/IFEX) – Rafael Marques, a freelance journalist and Angola representative of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, was released on bail on 25 November 1999, after spending forty days in […]
**Updates IFEX alerts of 25 November, 16 November, 3 November, 2 November, 28 October, 22 October, 20 October, 19 October and 18 October 1999**
(CPJ/IFEX) – Rafael Marques, a freelance journalist and Angola representative of the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, was released on bail on 25 November 1999, after spending forty days in prison. His trial is scheduled to begin on 15 December.
Marques had been in police custody since 16 October. Angolan police informally accused him of defamation in connection with an article that he published in a July edition of the independent weekly newspaper “Agora”. In the article, Marques referred to President Jose Eduardo Dos Santos as a “dictator.”
Marques was not formally charged until just before his release, although even then the precise charges against him could not be confirmed. He was initially refused access to a lawyer and to his family, and went on hunger strike for eight days to protest his detention. On 26 October, the Angolan attorney general had refused Marques’ bail application, without any explanation.
Marques is currently under house arrest. He is forbidden to contact the media or make public statements.
