On 31 March 2000 Rafael Marques was convicted of “defamation of the President” and sentenced to a six-month prison term and a fine of between about US$ 8,000 to 16,000. Amnesty International has received confirmation that his co-defendants, the director of the weekly newspaper Agora, Aguiar dos Santos, and the chief editor, António José Freitas, were tried at the same time. Aguiar dos Santos was also convicted of “defamation of the President” and sentenced to two months in prison and a fine of about $US 6,000. António José Freitas was acquitted.
