Luanda - The Supreme Court (TS) carried out, this Tuesday, in Luanda, the application of the identity and residence term to two defendants in the case involving the deputy commissioner of the National Police, in retirement, Domingos Francisco, accused of the crime of forgery of currency.
The change from preventive detention to the current measure occurred on the first day of the trial, resulting from the request of the defense lawyer, Zinho Manuel.
During the presentation of preliminary questions, the lawyer requested that the constituent António Kahala Pinto, imprisoned since December 13, 2022, when the events occurred, was given an identity and residence term, as he had already exceeded the coercion measure then applied.
In turn, the court, after hearing from the Public Prosecutor's Office, opted to change the coercive measure applied to António Pinto, in accordance with paragraph 2 of the Criminal Procedure Code, to the term of identity and residence, with the defendant having to present himself weekly to the Supreme Court.
However, the defendant Januário César Francisco, also a member of the case, was also given the term of residence identity, by the highest instance of the common jurisdiction of the country's judiciary.
The three defendants are accused of the crimes of passing, placing and circulating counterfeit currency on the market and the trial is presided over by the venerable judge advisor Daniel Modesto.
According to the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP), the defendants forged the amount of $19,900 Usd (Nineteen thousand and nine hundred US dollars) and were caught with a firearm, its charger and 16 rounds of ammunition, inside the deputy commissioner's vehicle.
The prosecution stated that the notes were placed under expert examination at the Central Criminalistics Laboratory, after their seizure, and it was found that they did not have the official dimensions.
According to the MP, the expertise concluded that the monetary notes had no identifying value, were not authentic, had a simulated watermark and a simulated security thread, as well as having no microtests, nor similarities with the real one, and were, therefore, its degree of falsity of 100%.
Meanwhile, the lawyer for defendants Domingos Francisco and António Pinto rejected the accusations, highlighting that they had no involvement in the commission of the alleged crime.
Januário Francisco's representative assured that he will appeal in defense of the accused in the case.
FMA/VC/CF/jmc
