The Secretary-General of Angolan opposition party Democratic Bloc (BD), Mr Filomeno Vieira Lopes, said he was brutalised by the police during a weekend protest demonstration. Mr Lopes told the Portuguese news agency Lusa that he had received medical treatment for three fractures on his left arm, a severe blow to the head, which required three stitches and for several bruises all over his body. He accused Angolan police of orchestrating the attack during a demonstration against the appointment of Ms Susan Inglês as the National Electoral Commission boss.

On the morning of 12 March, 20 computers were seized from the offices of the outspoken Folha 8, one of Angola’s few remaining private publications that is critical of the government, under a warrant investigating 'crimes of outrage against the state' and violations of press freedom. The effective shut-down of the paper and the questioning of its editor, William Tonet, whose mobile phone battery was also confiscated, comes just 48 hours after attempts by Angolan youths to stage demonstrations in the capital Luanda and southern coastal city of Benguela. Heavily armed police broke up the crowds making several arrests.

Angola's attorney general has summoned witnesses to testify in a case that implicates some of the top figures in the country's military and security establishment in acts of torture and murder in the diamond fields of north-eastern Angola. The witnesses' hearings will start on 5 March in Luanda. Respondents in the case include General Manuel Hélder Vieira Dias "Kopelipa", Minister of State and head of the Military Bureau in the Angolan presidency, as well as a close confidante and business associate of President José Eduardo dos Santos. The case was brought before the attorney general, on 14 November 2011, by Angolan human rights activist Rafael Marques de Morais, who has been investigating rights abuses connected with the diamond industry since 2004.