Former PGR and Sao Tome adviser rejects ‘torture and death’ of barracks attack suspects

Former Attorney General of Sao Tome Adelino Pereira, victim of the 2003 coup d’état, and State Councilor Celisa Deus Lima this Sunday denied the “torture and death” of those allegedly involved in the attack on the military barracks at Friday’s fair.

“Torture and death are unacceptable under the rule of law. […] We categorically reject the torture of our fellow citizens and the posting of these photos and films on social networks,” Adelino Pereira said at a press conference in Sao Tome regarding the deaths of three people involved in the attack on the barracks and one alleged mastermind. , images of which have been widely circulated.

As Attorney General of the Republic, Adelino Pereira was the target of an attempted coup d’état in 2003, being detained for three days in the now under attack military barracks.

The lawyer rejected Friday’s attack: “In a democracy, it is unacceptable for our fellow citizens to try to attack institutions,” he commented.

At least four people have died and dozens have been arrested after Friday’s attack on a military barracks in Sao Tome and Principe was classified by Sao Tome authorities as a “coup attempt” and condemned by the international community.

Among the dead is former Buffalo Battalion officer Arlesio Costa, who was convicted in 2009 of attempting a coup d’état and named as a suspect in being one of the organizers of the attack, along with the former chairman of the National Assembly. Delfim Neves – both detained by the military after the attack was declared “neutralized”.

Three of the four attackers and Arlesio Costa died on Friday, and images of men with traces of aggression, bloodied and with their hands tied behind their backs, still alive and also already in the mortuary, have been widely circulated on social networks.

“Any and all forms of torture and degrading, degrading and mortal treatment must be condemned with all our determination,” said Council of State member Celisa Deus Lima.

The lawyer emphasized that all detainees have the right to the presumption of innocence, as well as the right “to full defense, to contradiction, to be heard and not to be tortured”, lamenting the “barbarism and shocking images” that were seen on social networks.

Celisa Deus Lima and Adelino Pereira contacted on Friday “12 citizens” detained in the premises of the National Police and two detained in the judicial police – Delfim Neves and a “high-ranking” member of the central bank of Sao Tome, whom they remembered what rights you have.

“It is important that the detainees are guaranteed all the guarantees of protection, the right to be accompanied at the first interrogation by a lawyer. If they do not have one, the Bar Association must appoint an official defender. In a state of siege,” he stressed.

The two lawyers said the detained police chiefs — they couldn’t specify if they were all military but cited being “very young” — didn’t have access to lawyers on Friday, which they told the President of the Bar Association.

Adelino Pereira stressed that these events “demonstrate the weakness of the institutions” in Sao Tome.

“The time has come for us to have strong institutions so that such acts cannot take place. I appeal to everyone, namely to the parties: this is not the time to look at our interests. It is time to think about our country and democracy. and that all political forces and institutions be in unison, with one voice,” he stressed.