Angola: Members of Book Club Are Convicted of Plotting a Coup
|
Version 0 of 1. A group of 17 political activists known as the Luanda Book Club received prison sentences for plotting to overthrow Angola’s government, the local news media reported Tuesday. Members of the group were arrested at a 2015 meeting where they discussed “From Dictatorship to Democracy,” a book by Gene Sharp that was described as “a blueprint for nonviolent resistance to repressive regimes.” State prosecutors say they were planning a coup, the independent news website Rede Angola reported. The activists were sentenced to prison terms ranging from two years and three months to eight and a half years, Rede Angola reported. “The activists have been wrongly convicted in a deeply politicized trial,” said Deprose Muchena of Amnesty International. |