He spent 20 years defending people who could not afford a lawyer. Now he is fighting the case of his life - his own - from a prison cell.Amadeu Oliveira is a lawyer from Cabo Verde, a small island democracy off the west coast of Africa. An archipelago of 10 islands, it is about the size of Rhode Island, and it is one of Africa's most stable democracies.For more than 20 years, Amadeu did one job. Courts appointed him to defend people who could not pay for a lawyer. In America, we call that a public defender.In April 2021, voters elected him to Cabo Verde's National Assembly. That is their version of the U.S. Congress.Two months after he was sworn in, police arrested him.That was July 18, 2021. He has been in prison ever since. More than five years. He is 56 years old. He has four school-age children.Why is Amadeu Oliveira in prison?Here is what the court records show.In June 2021, the President of Cabo Verde's Supreme Court filed a criminal complaint against Amadeu.In November 2022, a court found him guilty of two things: helping a man he was appointed to defend, and publicly criticizing the Supreme Court. The sentence was seven years in prison. He also lost his seat in Congress.And who had the final word on his appeal? The Supreme Court. The same court whose president filed the complaint. The same court he was convicted of criticizing...Then 24 facts disappeared.At trial, the court set down 145 official facts about the case. When the Supreme Court issued its final ruling, 24 of those facts were missing from it.The Supreme Court admitted this in writing. It called it a "mechanical error" that happened while the ruling was being reformatted and printed.Amadeu's lawyers say the missing facts pointed to his innocence. They say a ruling that was changed without the judges knowing is not legally valid at all. More than two years have passed since the court's admission. The ruling has never been corrected.The United Nations has a basic rule for every country: lawyers must not be prosecuted or punished for doing their professional duty.People in Cabo Verde and its diaspora have taken notice. Leading legal scholars have publicly questioned the rulings. Germano Almeida, the country's most celebrated writer and winner of the highest prize in the Portuguese language, wrote an entire book about this case. In late 2025, Cabo Verde's Congress opened a formal inquiry into it, and in January 2026 the country's Constitutional Court allowed that inquiry to move forward.What was taken from himAccording to his defense, every bank account Amadeu holds in Cabo Verde has been frozen since July 2022. His laptop, with his defense files inside, was seized.Understand what that means: He was not only locked up. The financial means any person needs to fight their own case were locked away with him.But here is what could not be taken: his will to fight. From his prison cell in Mindelo, São Vicente, Amadeu has challenged his conviction before Cabo Verde's Constitutional Court not once, but more than a dozen times. In late 2024 he became gravely ill, was hospitalized, and had surgery. He returned to his cell. He is still fighting today.His four children have stood by him through all of it. For five years, they have grown up with their father behind bars.What your gift doesA fight like this should not have to run on frozen accounts. It runs on people like you.Defending Amadeu takes lawyers. It takes independent legal experts. It takes translating documents and bringing his case before international human rights bodies. And it takes standing behind four children whose father has been away for five years.That is exactly what this fund exists to do.The Free Amadeu Oliveira Fund is a project of the 10 Rocks Foundation. Contributions support human rights defense and humanitarian assistance in the case of Amadeu Oliveira, at the Foundation's discretion, which may include:Legal representation and defense costsIndependent expert legal opinionsDocumentation, translation, and submissions to international human rights bodiesHumanitarian support for immediate family members affected by the freezing of his assetsAll contributions are received and disbursed under the exclusive control and discretion of the 10 Rocks Foundation in furtherance of its charitable purposes. If circumstances change or contributions exceed the needs of this case, the Foundation will direct remaining funds to substantially similar charitable work: the defense of lawyers and human rights defenders at risk.This fund supports human rights defense and humanitarian assistance only. No portion of any contribution will be used for, or provided to, any political party, election, or campaign activity, in the United States or abroad.Stand with him todayYou may never meet Amadeu Oliveira. But if you believe a trial should be fair, and that no lawyer should be punished for doing his job, then his fight is your fight, too.Stand with him. $25 matters. $100 matters more. Every gift is tax-deductible, and 100% of it reaches the Foundation.If you cannot give today, share this page. Attention protects him.P.S. Amadeu's four children have now marked five birthdays each without their father. Twenty birthdays. Stand with this family today, so they know the world has not looked away.10 Rocks Foundation is a tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent permitted by law. A tax receipt is emailed automatically.100% of your donation reaches the 10 Rocks Foundation. Zeffy charges the Foundation no platform fees. At checkout, Zeffy asks donors for an optional contribution to Zeffy itself; you may set it to zero.