Angola’s National Assembly approved a final reading of the new Penal Code which will go into effect in February 2021. The code removes the phrase “vices against nature” which had been used to criminalize same-sex sexual activity. The code also expands protections from discrimination to include threats “directed at a person because of their race, color, ethnicity, place of birth, sex, sexual orientation, illness or physical disability or psychic, belief or religion, political or ideological convictions, condition or social origin or any other forms of discrimination.”
“As penas estabelecidas nos números anteriores são agravadas de metade nos seus limites, mínimo e máximo, se a ameaça for dirigida a uma pessoa por causa da sua raça, cor, etnia, local de nascimento, sexo, orientação sexual, doença ou deficiência física ou psíquica, crença ou religião, convicções políticas ou ideológicas, condição ou origem social ou quaisquer outras formas de discriminação.”
The first reading of the new code was voted on in January 2019, although the full draft text was not released publically. Many praised reports that the code was moving towards these positive changes for gay, bisexual, and lesbian people. During the last year the code has been finalized. The text of the Penal Code was published on 11 November in the Angola’s official Diário da República
New Penal Code goes into effect in February
translated from Angola Journal
The new Penal Code and the Penal Procedure Code come into force in February next year, after being published yesterday in the Diário da República. The two diplomas were published in Diário da República nº 179, Series I, through Law nº 38/20, of 11 November, which approves the Angolan Penal Code, and Law nº 39/20, of the same date, which approves the Code of Angolan Criminal Procedure.
The Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Francisco Queiroz, considered that the publication "is another step in the consolidation of national sovereignty." In declarations to Radio Nacional de Angola (RNA), Francisco Queiroz underlined that "Angola stops using inherited laws colonial administration and starts to use a Penal Code inspired by its political, legal and social reality".
"This is an act of sovereignty by the Angolan State which, after 134 years of being governed in the criminal and criminal fields, with a Code that has been in force since 1886, from the colonial administration, now has the Penal Code totally inspired by political reality, legal, cultural and social Angolan. Therefore it is an aspect that must be underlined, this one of the consolidation of the national sovereignty ", underlined. For Francisco Queiroz, the new Penal Code enshrines innovative solutions. "It is consensual, from a technical point of view and is aligned with the most modern solutions at the international level", he added.
The minister highlighted the prediction of cyber crimes, crimes against property, crimes due to the exercise of public functions and those related to the environment. Criminal procedure In relation to the Criminal Procedure Code, also published yesterday, the Minister of Justice and Human Rights considered that it enshrines more guarantees for the defendants and the figure of the guarantees judge, leaving preventive detention to be validated by the Public Ministry and creating conditions for processes to be faster. "There are, in fact, solutions that are in line with what is most modern in terms of the defendants' guarantees, from the outset the institutionalization of the guarantees judge, which means that preventive detention is no longer validated by the Public Ministry and becomes be by a guarantee judge", he stressed.
The minister pointed out the reinforcement of the defendants' right to be heard and, above all, greater procedural speed, so that criminal proceedings proceed more quickly and that in the end justice is felt without losing relevance. Protection of rights The specialist in Criminal Law Bangula Quemba explained that the new Penal Code and Code of Penal Procedure reinforce the protection of the fundamental rights, freedoms and guarantees of citizens. "This Code is based on the dignity of the human person and the purpose of the penalties is positive general prevention and also the reintegration of the agent into society", he stressed.
The jurist warned, however, of the need to improve a series of situations, such as the working conditions of magistrates and lawyers, in order to be able, in fact, to apply the Code in practice ". Sérgio Calundungo, from the Political and Social Observatory of Angola (OPSA), understands that the new Penal Code is assertive regarding the consecrated solution for economic crimes, adding that the President of the Republic was very well in asking for the increase of penalties.The Angolan Penal Code was approved in January 2019.
In August, President João Lourenço requested the revision of specific articles of the diploma, mainly related to crimes committed in the exercise of public functions. When reviewing the diploma, at the beginning of the month, the National Assembly approved the aggravation of the penalty for the crime of embezzlement up to a maximum of 14 years.The Penal Procedure Code, which replaces the 1929 diploma, was unanimously approved in July this year.