19-year-old killed by stray police bullets shot while bathing, CDD demands accountability – Watch

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19-year-old killed by stray police bullets shot while bathing, CDD demands accountability – Watch

8:30 CAT | 26 May 2021

The precarious 'toilet' where the 19-year-old girl was ting a bath pictured behind the Miramar journalist. [Screen grab: Miramar]

A police attempt to apprehend a group of suspected thieves ended with the death of a 19-year-old girl in the district of Changara in Tete Province. The shooting took place at Intersection 18 , when shots fired at alleged assailants hit a 19-year-old girl in her bathroom, Miramar reports.

The non-governmental organisation Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD Mozambique) has demanded justice in a communique issued on Monday (24 May).

The unidentified PRM agents shot and killed the Grade 7 pupil in Changara district, Tete province, having chased a group of alleged criminals into a residential area . Of the five shots they fired, three hit the girl in the bathroom of her home, a CDD communique reveals. [ You may read the original CDD Moçambique text, in Portuguese, HERE]

“The basic question that arises is, how it is possible for an innocent person to be hit by three bullets fired by the authority of the State which has the constitutional duty to protect it? How is it possible for a person in a bathroom – and therefore not mixed with suspicious people targeted by police – to be riddled with three bullets fired in broad daylight? What was the real intention of PRM agents in shooting at the bathroom of a house of precarious construction? How far away were the PRM agents when they fired?” the report asks.

“The only conclusion that can be reached is that the police need better training regarding the human rights of citizens and upholding legality, which is their essential mission, as can be extracted from the CRM (article 253/1), and of the Law that creates the PRM (under the terms of subparagraphs a) and b) of number 1 of article 4 of Law no. 16/2013, August 12).

“Cases of people dying when hit by police [bullets] are increasing each year and, when faced with this reality, the authorities say they were ‘stray bullets’. A false argument used in order not to hold [responsible] state agents who violate the fundamental rights of persons to whom they should be guaranteeing security and protection.

“No, this is not about ‘stray bullets’. Rather, it is about bullets fired by PRM agents without preparation to deal with situations, persecution of suspects or restraining the mood of angry people. It is about bullets fired by PRM officers who have no sense of respect for the most elementary fundamental rights of citizens, namely the right to life and physical integrity. And the lack of accountability of the agents involved contributes to the maintenance of this harmful practice. Now, the police do not have a license to kill indiscriminately; they have a duty to protect people and property and not usurp judicial authority.

“The CDD strongly condemns the girl’s murder in the Changara district and demands that the agents involved be held criminally and disciplinarily liable. The state must assume its responsibility for the damages caused by its agents, and compensate the victim’s family. that is the least one can demand in the face of such brutality in the performance of some PRM agents.”

Source: Miramar / CDD Moçambique