Mozambique: RD denies that Singano has been murdered - AIM report
Photo: Luisa Nhantumbo/Lusa
Mozambican politician Venâncio Mondlane said today that he will be present at the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) in Maputo on Tuesday to be heard in a criminal case.
“See you tomorrow, at 9:00 am, at the PGR”, wrote former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane on his official Facebook account.
His advisor, Dinis Tivane, also confirmed the politician’s presence at this hearing, using his Facebook account, explaining that Venâncio Mondlane finished “his tasks abroad” today.
“He has just confirmed his presence tomorrow, Tuesday, March 11 at 9:00 am, at the PGR”, said Tivane, who accompanied Venâncio Mondlane on this trip abroad, during which photographs of the former presidential candidate with former President of Botswana Ian Khama were shared.
The hearing of former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane at the Public Prosecutor’s Office in Maputo, scheduled for this morning, has been postponed until Tuesday, said a source from the Mozambican Attorney General’s Office (PGR).
The postponement was decided after the request submitted this morning by an agent for Venâncio Mondlane at the PGR, which in the meantime rescheduled the hearing for Tuesday at 9:00 am local time (two hours less in Lisbon), according to the same source.
“He [Venâncio Mondlane] will be heard as part of a criminal case filed last year,” a source from the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP) previously told Lusa.
This is one of at least two publicly known cases that are being filed against Mondlane at the PGR, following the demonstrations that the politician has led since October against the election results.
The former presidential candidate has not made any public statement since Wednesday, when the Mozambican police fired shots to disperse a crowd that was following a caravan led by the politician, which precipitated his escape from the scene.
On November 22, the Mozambican MP demanded compensation of 1.5 million euros for the damages caused by the demonstrations in Maputo province, in a new case against Mondlane and Podemos, the party that supported him until February of this year.
This was the second civil action of its kind, following another that the Public Prosecutor’s Office filed with the Maputo City Court, solely concerning losses in the capital, requesting compensation of 32,377,276.46 meticais (486 thousand euros).
On January 27, the PGR announced the opening of proceedings considering that Mondlane’s self-proclaimed “presidential decree” subverts the principles of the democratic state.
At issue was a document signed and released by Mondlane at the time, entitled “decree”, published in the self-styled “Jornal do Povo”, with 30 measures for the next 100 days, in which, in one of them, the politician states that “it is up to the people, the victims, to establish themselves as an autonomous court that issues sentences to stop the macabre wave of the UIR, GOE and Sernic”, referring to units of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique that he accused of “incessant blatant summary executions”.
“The publication of the alleged decree, by the same citizen, constitutes a flagrant violation (…) of the Constitution of the Republic, since this act constitutes a prerogative reserved for the competent bodies of the State and is published in the Official Gazette”, added the prosecutor’s office in a statement.
Mondlane, who was named by the Constitutional Council as the second most voted candidate in the presidential elections held on 9 October, is leading the biggest challenge to the election results that Mozambique has seen since the first multi-party elections in 1994.
The vote gave victory to Daniel Chapo, who has already been sworn in as Mozambique’s fifth President.
Since the protests began in October, at least 353 people have died following clashes between the police and protesters during the protests, according to Plataforma Decide, a non-governmental organisation that monitors the electoral process.
The Mozambican government has confirmed at least 80 deaths.
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