Huambo, ANGOLA, April 23 - Rigour and transparency should guide the daily life of public entities in the exercise of their functions in order to avoid criminal liability, said Monday in central Huambo province the lawyer Liberal António Paulo Alicerces.,

The jurist was addressing the topic "Immunities in the framework of the Angolan criminal process", ahead of 40th anniversary of the Attorney General's Office (PGR), scheduled for 27th this month.  

He recalled that although some are covered by constitutional immunities, the public entities are not immune from criminal liability in the case of mismanagement of public property.

The lawyer said that the democratic climate in the country, based on the fight against impunity, with effective monitoring of the press and society, in general, requires that the public authorities put the interests of the Nation above any other, taking into account the strict compliance with the law.

According to him, the immunities have to do with prerogatives that assure the members of certain organs of Sovereignty (President of the Republic, National Assembly and Courts), whose constitutional privileges differ according to the specificities of the functions.

Others enjoying the immunities are the general officers, commissioners and other senior officers of the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) performing specific functions.

The lawyers, unlike the municipal administrators and provincial office’s directors, also share the list of those enjoying the immunities.

He said that the immunities protect such public entities against abuses, disobedience, defamation, libel and slander practiced in the exercise of their duties.

The Attorney General's Office was created in 1978 and institutionalised one year later.

The institution is tasked with governing the interests of the State.