Mozambique: Chimoio Public Prosecutor clarifies charges concerning satirical video

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Mozambique: Chimoio Public Prosecutor clarifies charges concerning satirical video

12:50 CAT | 01 Dec 2022

SNJ representative Nelson Benjamin stressed that it was the Pprosecutor herself, when presenting the case in court [pictured], who pointed to "defamation" as one of the "misdemeanours to be addressed", because of the "use of pejorative expressions in relation to members of the police". Screen grab: STV

District Public Prosecutor in Chimoio, central Mozambique, clarified on Wednesday in a statement that there is only one defendant, accused of “exposing to danger” the children starring in a video which satirises Mozambique’s traffic police.

“At no point in the indictment was a charge of slander and defamation against the Mozambican state lodged”, reads a statement from the Chimoio District Public Prosecutor’s Office, adding, “the content of the video was never a concern for the Public Prosecutor’s Office”.

The statement comes in response to a note from the National Union of Journalists (SNJ), which on Tuesday, along with a chorus of criticism on social networks, called the case “absurd” and an attack on “artistic creativity”.

SNJ representative Nelson Benjamin stressed that it was the Pprosecutor herself, when presenting the case in court, who pointed to “defamation” as one of the “misdemeanours to be addressed”, because of the “use of pejorative expressions in relation to members of the police”.

Yesterday’s statement however clarifies that this is not now an issue.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office states that the young man who filmed the video was constituted as a defendant on possible evidence of the crime of “exposure to danger”, when “a minor appeared [to drive] at the wheel of the car on the scene”.

Journalist Raquel Jorge, grandmother of one of the children, was heard as a declarant, it stated.

Two hours into its session on Tuesday, the Judicial Court of the City of Chimoio interrupted work to arrange for the projection of the video in the courtroom and find an expert to verify the exact nature of the children’s actions in the scene.

The case will resume on December 27.

READ: Children playing corrupt police sparks Mozambique fallout – BBC

Humorista moçambicano Valter Danone, 6 anos de idade, acusado de caluniar o Estado moçambicano. O menor participou num vídeo teatral sobre a corrupção na polícia de trânsito.
Como ele é menor, a avó é que será julgada.@joanamarques140 @omalestafeito pic.twitter.com/JbtupZjwek

— WalterDomingos (@WalterDomings) November 30, 2022

State prosecutors in Mozambique’s province of Manica, have accused a 6 year-old comedian of insulting the police after the boy and friends made a video mocking police corruption.
I honestly didn’t believe this story until I watched the 8 pm news. What’s wrong with this country? pic.twitter.com/NYIPQH6aQo

— Zenaida Machado (@zenaidamz) November 29, 2022