On 5 January 2024, agents of the national police attached to the Municipal Command of Luanda’s third Division, unlawfully placed human rights lawyer Zola Ferreira Bambi under house arrest, followed by his detention at the local police station.
Zola Ferreira Bambi is a well-known human rights lawyer based in Luanda, Angola. He works on issues involving human rights defenders as well as communities whose rights have been violated. He is also the president of Angola’s Observatory of Social Cohesion and Justice. Zola Bambi has been documenting abuse and legal harassment against human rights defenders in Luanda since the early 2000s. He has additionally provided legal counsel and defended human rights activists who are under judicial harassment for out their legitimate human rights work.
On 5 January 2024, agents of the national police attached to the Municipal Command of Luanda’s third Division unlawfully placed human rights lawyer Zola Ferreira Bambi under “house arrest.” Seven police officers in plain clothes chained his door with a padlock and retained him inside his house for four hours starting from six in the morning. They raided his residence without a court order. He was then brought to the police station where he was detained for another three hours without any charges or justification.
On that morning, the human rights lawyer was preparing to represent Laurinda Gouveia along with her husband, an activist who had been detained during a demonstration. The demonstration aimed to protest against the conviction of four human rights defenders: Adolfo Campos along with Gildon Da Silva Moreira, also known as Tanaice Neutro, Hermenegildo Andre known as Gildo das Ruas and Abraão Pedro Santos, who advocate for good governance, transparency.
Later on the 5 January 2024 the lawyer and human rights defender Zola Ferreira Bambi was freed only after the activist Laurinda’s trial started, preventing him to act as her legal representative.
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Angola: Rights Lawyer Zola Ferreira Zambi unlawfully placed under “house arrest”
