The Constitutional Court (CC) of Cape Verde has rejected appeals for the release of two Montenegrins and five Brazilians sentenced to 12 years in prison each for aggravated drug trafficking, the institution said.
Cape Verde’s High Court of Constitutional Jurisdiction said in a statement that it had “dismissed the pending requests for amparo” and “declined the provisional release measures” requested by all foreign nationals.
In their ruling, the TC judges unanimously understood that the appeals in which they challenged the Supreme Court’s (STJ) decisions denying them habeas corpus “were filed well after the 20-day period prescribed by law.”
On December 9, 2022, a Praia court sentenced five Brazilians and two Montenegrins accused of aggravated drug trafficking to 12 years in prison each as part of a mega-operation to seize 5.4 tons of cocaine.
In addition to the 12 years in prison, the defendants were also ordered to pay court costs and all seized property was confiscated.
The case began in April 2022 when the Cape Verdean Judicial Police (SP) discovered 5.4 tons of cocaine on a fishing vessel from Brazil, detaining five Brazilians and two Montenegrins.
The citizens, aged 32 to 66, who were crew members of the Brazilian-flagged fishing vessel Alcatraz I, are being held in Praia Central Prison.
The largest anti-drug operation in Cape Verde took place on January 31, 2019: 9.5 tons of cocaine in 260 bales were seized on a ship sailing on the high seas under the Panamanian flag and with a Russian crew.