Daughter appeals Spanish court ruling on dos Santos body

The dos Santos household is concerned in a tussle over the place the late Angolan president will probably be buried.

Former Angolan President and MPLA chief Jose Eduardo dos Santos attends a celebration central committee at a gathering in Luanda, Angola, December 2, 2016 throughout his time as president [Herculano Coroado/Reuters]

A daughter of Angola’s former president Jose Eduardo dos Santos has appealed a Spanish courtroom’s determination ordering his physique to be launched to his widow and returned house for burial.

The case was filed on Thursday by Tchize dos Santos, his 44-year-old daughter.

The previous president dominated the oil-rich African nation with an iron first from 1979 to 2017, died in Barcelona on July 8 on the age of 79 after struggling a cardiac arrest.

Since then, the query of when and the place he will probably be buried has pitted the Angolan authorities and his widow, Ana Paula, in opposition to a few of his grownup youngsters.

On Tuesday, a Barcelona courtroom ordered his stays to be delivered to Ana Paula and granted authorisation for “the repatriation and worldwide switch of (his) stays to Angola”.

However his daughter filed an enchantment, arguing the courtroom didn't have the jurisdiction to rule on what was basically a civil matter, courtroom paperwork confirmed.

The enchantment additionally argues that dos Santos and Ana Paula had been separated since 2017 and “didn't reside in a state of affairs of matrimonial normality”.

Tchize dos Santos has repeatedly mentioned her father wished to be buried in Barcelona the place he had principally lived since stepping down in 2017.

She additionally argues her father’s burial in Angola could be used to favour the present authorities of Joao Lourenco forward of essential elections within the former Portuguese colony on August 24.

Simply days after his demise, a autopsy was carried out at her request on the grounds that he had died in “suspicious circumstances”.

In mid-July, a Spanish courtroom refused to launch his physique till the assessments had been completed and it had been determined to which relative his physique could be launched. The autopsy confirmed he died “a demise from pure causes”.

Throughout dos Santos’s reign which lasted practically 40 years, members of his household capitalised on the nation’s oil riches whereas most Angolans remained mired in poverty.

When he stepped down in 2017, dos Santos handed over to Lourenco, the previous defence minister.

However Lourenco shortly turned on his erstwhile patron, unleashing an anti-corruption drive to recoup billions he suspected had been embezzled underneath dos Santos, a marketing campaign that has focused the previous president’s household.