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Angola’s Constitutional Court has overturned a five-year sentence that had been handed to the son of former President José Eduardo dos Santos for fraud. Exiled opposition groups say Niger's military leader has scotched all hopes of a return to democracy after he abolished local councils.
José Filomeno dos Santos was sentenced in 2020 for his role in the illegal transfer of $500m (£378m) from Angola’s Sovereign Fund to a private account in the UK. General Abdourahamane Tiani sacked directly elected mayors and councillors (in all of Niger's 265 communes) late on Thursday, replacing them with his nominees.
He appealed against the verdict in 2022. The State Court will on Friday hear a request to strip the immunity from prosecution of the man he forced from office, Mohamed Bazoum.
In a ruling published on Thursday, the Constitutional Court declared his conviction as "unconstitutional", because it breached "the principles of legality, adversarial proceedings, a fair and consistent judgement and the rights of the defence". Since the coup last July, General Tiani has pivoted Niger away from its former allies, France and the US, and built closer ties with Russia.
The former leader's son, also known as Zenu, was the head of Angola's Sovereign Wealth Fund from 2013 to 2018. Last month he ordered US troops to leave the base from which they have been conducting operations against Islamists in the Sahel.
He was sentenced alongside the ex-governor of Angola's national bank and three others.
The transfer of the money was agreed in 2017, in the last few weeks before his father stood down as president - after 38 years.
José Eduardo dos Santos was president from 1979 until he resigned in 2017, to be replaced by the man he had handpicked for the job, his former defence minister Joao Lourenço.
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