João Maria de Sousa

General João Maria Moreira de Sousa (born 1951) is a former Attorney General of Angola, "the top magistrate of the Prosecuting Council". In a December 2007 ceremony reconfirming his post (which has been held since at least 2004 ) and attended by members of the press, de Sousa was photographed being sworn into office by José Eduardo dos Santos, President, Head of Government, and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Angola.

Military background General de Sousa is, along with fellow "top generals" Higino Carneiro, Hélder Vieira Dias, Roberto Leal Monteiro, and Kundi Paihama, one of the military leaders holding top ministerial posts for the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola, the political party that has ruled Angola since it gained its independence from Portugal in 1975.

Statements In 2004, de Sousa stated that Angola's National Police should act against criminals rather than to quell dissent. In a January 2008 interview with Rádio Nacional de Angola, de Sousa said the detention of journalist Fernando Lelo was justified based on "strong signs of crime against the State security". He denied that there were any "irregularities in his detention" and said that Lelo's offenses included the incitement of Angolan Armed Forces soldiers to commit crimes. Okah was deported from Angola the following month and faces the death penalty. En route to attending the Johannesburg, South Africa meeting of the Executive Committee of Attorneys' Association of Africa in February 2008, de Sousa addressed reporters at the international airport in Luanda to describes subjects on that meeting's agenda including children's rights, domestic violence, human trafficking, and organised crime.

Name General de Sousa should not be confused with João Maria de Sousa e Almeida, Baron de Agua-Izé, a Portuguese nobleman credited with bringing the seeds of the breadfruit tree to São Tomé in 1858.