Amurane murder: Trial begins in Nampula – AIM report | Watch

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Amurane murder: Trial begins in Nampula – AIM report | Watch

10:51 CAT | 24 Jun 2022

Photo: Notícias

The trial of two people accused of murdering Mahamudo Amurrane, the mayor of the northern city of Nampula in 2017, began on Wednesday, before the Nampula Provincial Court.

The accused are Saide Abdulremane, who was Nampula municipal councillor for markets and fairs at the time of the murder, and businessman Zainal Satar who was the contractor for building work on Amurrane’s house.

According to the report of the trial in the Maputo daily “Noticias”, the prosecutor, Cristovao Mueleca, said that Abdulremane, without the knowledge or consent of the mayor, signed a memorandum of understanding with Satar under which Satar was granted a space for his business in the centre of the city.

Abdulremane attempted to seal this agreement by bribing Amurrane. He transferred 2,000 euros (about 2,100 US dollars, at the current exchange rate) to the Mayor’s personal bank account. When Amurrane became aware of this, he returned the money.

In August 2017, Amurrane removed Abdulremane’s power to sign memorandums of understanding. According to the prosecution, Abdulremane and Satar than drew up a plan to assassinate the mayor, which they put into practice on 4 October 2017.

On that date, Amurrane went home at about 17.30 and found Satar there inspecting the building work. A few minutes later Abdulemane arrived and the three men spoke outside the house.

All three then left Amurrane’s private house and walked to his official residence, where the mayor was shot dead.

Both suspects deny firing the fatal shot. They claimed that an unknown gunman appeared in front of them. But the prosecution argues that Satar and Abdulremane were the only people anywhere near Amurrane, and at the same distance from which the shot was fired.

Examination of the body showed that Amurrane was shot from behind (and so not by anyone who appeared in front of him.

The prosecution noted that the two suspects did not try to save Amurrane, nor did they immediately inform the authorities of the crime. This delay, the prosecutor argued, gave them time to dispose of the murder weapon.

The prosecution thus has no doubt that Abdulremane and Satar are “the moral and material authors of the murder”.

Amurrane was elected mayor of Nampula in the 2013 municipal elections, on the ticket of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), the country’s second largest opposition party. But he then fell out with the MDM leadership, and it was suspected that he planned to run as an independent in the next mayoral elections, scheduled for 2018.

Watch the TVM report.