Prominent Angolan journalist Rafael Marques de Morais was set to stand trial this week on nine counts of defamation stemming from his book Blood Diamonds: Corruption and Torture in Angola

 

In the book, Marques detailed more than 100 killings and over 500 cases of torture carried out by security guards and members of the Angolan army against local people and small-scale miners in the Cuango region of the country, which is located in Lunda Norte Province.

 

The defamation charges came after he accused seven Angolan army generals and the directors of the Cuango Mining Company of being criminally responsible for killings, torture and land grabs in the country’s diamond fields.

 

When Marques, who last week was a co-recipient of the 2015 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expressions in Journalism award, went to court on Tuesday, he discovered he was facing an additional 15 charges of libel.

 

The judge in the case has now adjourned the case until April 23 to allow Marques’ lawyers time to prepare their case with the addition of these further charges. What hasn’t changed, however, is that if found guilty, the journalist could be sentenced to nine years in prison as well as a $1.2 million fine.

 

In an earlier (2013) case in Portugal, Public Prosecutor's Office dismissed a criminal complaint lodged by nine Angolan generals against Marques and the publishing house Tinta-da-China, following the publication of his book in that country.

 

You have to admire Rafael Marques de Morais, a brave man willing to stand up and point out crime, torture and inhumanity. A man who says that even if he is sent to jail, it will be okay because he will have the opportunity to do human rights work inside jai? A man who, in his own words, isn’t afraid to “rock the boat.” And, it seems, that the boat still needs rocking.

 

In 2013, Angola – this year’s Kimberley Process chair – held the Angolan Diamond Centenary Conference, an event that celebrated 100 years since the first discovery of diamonds in Angola.

 

During that conference, vice president Manuel Domingos Vicente did not shy away from his country’s past and mentioned the conflict diamond-fuelled civil war that killed and maimed tens of thousands of people from 1975 to 2002. During his speech, he also said the government had invested great efforts in eradicating the trade in conflict diamonds, and was continuing to do so, an effort for which it should be commended.

 

He also said the government was aiming to put an end to illegal mining in the country in a responsible and humane manner.

 

A Wall Street Journal article from 2010 show just why this responsible and humane reform is necessary: “…a visit to Angola's diamond heartland reveals that plenty of blood still spills over those precious stones. Here in the sprawling jungle of northeast Angola, a violent economy prevails in which thousands of peasant miners eke out a living searching for diamonds with shovels and sieves. Because they lack government permits, miners and their families say they are routinely beaten and shaken down for bribes by soldiers and private security guards – and, in extreme cases, killed.”

 

Though the article was written in 2010, we know that these things are still happening in various diamond-producing countries.

 

And so, we need to make sure that the issue of human rights abuses and conflict diamonds does not slip down the chain of important subjects that the industry must deal with. Lately, it seems that there is much more concern about the damage that lab-grown diamonds might do to the traditional industry rather than the harm tragically being caused to some of the world’s poorest people.  

 

I don’t know how we can fix the situation, with all my heart I wish I did. I also know it is naïve fantasy to think that one day conflict diamonds and human rights abuses connected to diamond mining will vanish, but if we continue to rock the boat, perhaps will be able to even further reduce even the small percentage of conflict diamonds flowing through our pipeline.  

 

Have a wonderful – and thoughtful – weekend.