The Angolan government has brought criminal charges against journalist Rafael Marques de Morais for his book, Blood Diamonds: Corruption and Torture in Angola, published in Portugal in 2011, that documented allegations of homicides, torture, forced displacement of civilian settlements, and intimidation of inhabitants of the diamond-mining areas of the country’s Lundas region.
CPJ, together with a host of organizations, has written to Angola Attorney General João Maria de Sousa of Angola, asking that he drop the charges of defamation and libel that have been filed against the journalist and human rights activist.
The letter is also available in French and Portuguese.