Whippings, forced labour, evictions, humiliations galore and killings with impunity: you'd think you were reading about Portuguese colonial abuse in Angola. Instead, you're reading investigative journalist Rafael Marqes' expose of the Dos Santos regime. MERCEDES SAYAGUES reviews the book that has the generals running scared - and that landed its author in court.
On Tuesday, Angola's foremost and fearless investigative journalist Rafael Marques (read the Daily Maverick's profile of him here) found himself in a court in Luanda, facing 14 years in jail on charges of criminal defamation brought by seven Angolan generals and two diamond company representatives. The plaintiffs took exception to Marques' tales of systematic torture, murder and land dispossession in his 2011 book, Blood Diamonds: Torture and Corruption in Angola.
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