Staff Reporter
STATE prosecutors have asked an Angolan court to sentence two Russian nationals to 18 years in prison each and to have them expelled from the country immediately after serving their terms in a high-profile terrorism case.
The Angolan trial is running at the same time as a terrorism case in Namibia, in which 32-year-old Grootfontein resident Jona Hangula is charged under the Prevention and Combating of Terrorist and Proliferation Activities Act.
Arrested in June 2023, Hangula faces 19 charges in the Windhoek High Court, including high treason, terrorism, funding terrorist activities and membership of a terrorist organisation.
In Luanda, the two Russians, Igor Ratchin Mihailovich and Lev Matveech Lakstanov, are on trial alongside Angolan sports journalist Amor Carlos Tome and UNITA youth leader Francisco Oliveira “Buka Tanda”.
Prosecutors are demanding 15 years for Tome and 10 years for Oliveira, according to submissions made in court on Monday.
The quartet was arrested in Luanda in August last year following violent demonstrations by taxi drivers the previous month over fuel price hikes and increased public transport fares. The protests left at least 29 people dead and resulted in widespread vandalism. Police arrested dozens of demonstrators in the aftermath.
The indictment contains 11 charges against the two Russians, nine against Tome and five against Oliveira. All four face allegations related to espionage, terrorism, financing of terrorism and influence peddling.
State prosecutors allege the Russians operated under “Africa Politology”, a network linked to the former Wagner Group. The State claims the network spent about US$150,000, approximately N$2.5 million, to fund the violent demonstrations, and paid more than US$24,000, about N$390,000, to journalists and experts to spread disinformation aimed at “regime change”.
The court heard that the two Russians entered Angola in 2024 under the pretext of opening a cultural centre. Prosecutors allege they financed staged demonstrations and influenced local media through the creation and dissemination of subversive texts and opinions.
Defence lawyers, cited by Angolan media, dismissed the accusations as “infantile” and lacking substance, and called for the case to be dismissed altogether.
Photo: Contributed
