JOURNALIST MUSSAMO RELEASED ON BAIL AFTER THREE MONTHS IN ILLEGAL DETENTION


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New York, March 29, 2000— Angolan journalist Andre Domigos Mussamo, formerly chief editor of the Cuanza Norte provincial branch of the Angolan National Radio and a correspondent for the biweekly Folha 8, posted bail and was released from prison around March 16, sources in Angola told CPJ.

No date has yet been set for a trial, and it remains unclear whether Mussamo has even been formally charged. Meanwhile, he cannot leave Cuanza Norte Province or resume his professional activities, CPJ sources say.

Angolan police arrested Mussamo in the Cuanza Norte capital, N’Dalatando, on December 2, 1999, in connection with an unpublished article in which he referred to a confidential letter written by the provincial governor to Angolan president José Eduardo Dos Santos.

Mussamo’s piece was written in September, but never published. It is unclear how police learned about its contents. According to the Media Institute of Southern Africa, however, an agent of the security services searched Mussamo’s desk at work, and found an old draft of the article.

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