Amurane murder: No evidence against suspects, says judge – Mozambique

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Amurane murder: No evidence against suspects, says judge – Mozambique

8:05 CAT | 13 Aug 2019

Picture: Lusa

The Nampula Provincial Court in northern Mozambique has rejected the case against two men accused of the murder, on 4 October 2017, of the Mayor of Nampula, Mahamudo Amurane.

According to the independent television station STV, in a dispatch dated 8 August, judge Adelina Pereira Vaz, of the sixth criminal section of the court declined to allow the case to go to trial since the public prosecutor’s office had not presented enough evidence against the two men to incriminate them in the murder.

The prosecutors charged the two men, Saide Aly Abdala, then a member of Nampula city council, and local businessman Zainal Abdina Satar, on the grounds that they are the last people known to have spoken with Amurane before he was shot dead.

But there was no evidence that either of these men had pulled the trigger. Judge Vaz noted that the prosecution claimed the two suspects planned to murder Amurane “and drew up a plan which consisted in taking him out of his official house to a place where it would be easy to end his life”. The prosecution said that Saide Aly “helped by the co-suspect Zainal Abdina, opened fire against the mayor”.

But this was just a bald statement. The judge said the prosecution had not produced any witnesses, any confession or any material evidence showing that the two men had committed the murder.

Vaz believed she had no option but to drop the case, although it can be re-opened at any time, if the prosecution can find new evidence.

The prosecution has announced that it will appeal against the court’s ruling.

Source: AIM