Sao Tome PM rejects parliamentary debate over attack on barracks ahead of investigation

The prime minister of Sao Tome on Tuesday withdrew from his presence in parliament to discuss the events of November 25, which killed four people, but promised to discuss the issue after an investigation, which is under the “secret of justice.”

“When justice completes its work, we will discuss, debate, but as long as I do not interfere with the work of justice, I will not interfere in another sovereign body, in such a delicate, serious matter. We’ll wait,” he told Luce. Patrice Trovoada on the sidelines of a meeting with a motorcycle taxi group about the fuel price increase planned for February.

Earlier this month, the Movement for the Liberation of Sao Tome and Principe/Social Democratic Party (MLSTP/PSD, opposition) submitted a motion of no confidence in the government, demanding the presence of the Prime Minister in Parliament to discuss “in his latitude” the attack on the barracks, but the request was rejected President of the National Assembly Selmira Sacramento, who is also Vice President of ADI.

Earlier, the parliamentary group ADI (Independent Democratic Action) also rejected a request for an urgent debate submitted by the MLSTP/PSD, saying the debate would interfere with ongoing court investigations.

Asked about refusing to debate in parliament, Patrice Trovoada, who is also president of ADI, said he was “cool” and would not “play that game of commentary” about the opposition’s allegations.

“I do not refuse anything. Now I do not do what I consider wrong. When we have the inviolable secrecy of justice, I will not discuss the issue that is in court,” Patrice Trovoada said.

The Prime Minister felt that “the MLSPP has been talking a lot and some of the things she has said are not very favorable for the MLSPP itself” and for democracy in the country.

“Our country needs the entire concentration of its leaders, officials, workers to get out of the hole into which the MLSFP has driven us, and this is what worries me. why, we will go to the debate, but for now we let justice work,” added Patrice Trovoada.

Early on the morning of November 25, four men attacked the military barracks in the capital Sao Tome. The attack, which lasted almost six hours, was accompanied by intense firefights and explosions, during which they took hostage an officer on duty, who, according to authorities, was seriously injured in the attacks.

Three of the four attackers detained by the military and Arlesio Costa, a former combatant of the South African Buffalo Battalion, died a few hours later, and images of men with traces of aggression, bloodied and with their hands tied behind their backs, are still alive and also already in the morgue, they received wide publicity in social networks.

In early January, Sao Tome’s Attorney General said the investigation into the attack on the military headquarters was progressing “very well” and stressed Portugal’s “fundamental assistance” in the process.

Kelve Nobre de Carvalho stressed that, according to the law of Sao Tome, the Ministry of Public Administration (MP) has three months to complete the investigation, but they can be completed before this deadline.

In a note published in December, the prosecutor’s office said that 17 people were detained as part of an investigation into the attack on the barracks, of which nine are in custody.

On the other hand, six Sao Tome military personnel were placed under preventive arrest on suspicion of torturing and killing four people allegedly involved in the attack on the headquarters, a court source told Lusa.