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Delegates arrested in Gaza – 18 released on bail & 4 still in jail 6 weeks after election – CIP Eleições
8:29 CAT | 04 Dec 2019
Photo: MMO Noticias
Four MDM party delegates (poll watchers) were arrested on 15 October on polling day in Chókwè district, Gaza. MDM spokesman Fernando Bismarque said today that the party through lawyers is fighting for the release of delegates, but without success. He said the four detainees have not yet been tried and have been transferred from Chókwè jail to Xai-Xai jail.
Also arrested on 15 October were 18 delegates of the New Democracy (ND) party. Chókwè District court finally on 26 November agree bail of 40,000 meticais ($650) each and gave them five days to raise the money. The money was raised and the 18 were released on bail on Saturday. They are 12 men and 6 women.
Neither the relatives of the detainees nor the party had the required $12,000. As a result, the amount was gathered through a fundraising campaign that ran shortly after the court ruling. Quitéria Guirengane, ND party agent, said that for the money was from domestic and foreign sources, notably “by Southern Africa Human Rights Defenders and Amnesty International through the CDD,” said. The ND representative also explained that part of the amount collected in the country was used to “fund the rent of vehicles that were used to transport delegates to different points of Gaza province and to provide basic assistance to 18 delegates.”
“Those who kidnapped our delegates must be held responsible in the bars of justice. All this concert of illegality has a father, a godfather but, above all, there are key actors from the electoral bodies and the police who refuse to respect our legislation in Mozambique,” Guirengane told Radio France International (RFI).
The delegates were detained by the police under the guidance of the Technical Secretariat of Electoral Administration (STAE), allegedly because their credentials were false. Detainees are charged with crimes of forgery and use of false documents and not of electoral wrongdoing.
But STAE and CNE refused to issue credentials to ND delegates, which is also a crime, but none of their staff has been detained.
Failure to issue credentials is covered by the crime of obstructing delegates, punishable by up to three months imprisonment (Law No. 2/2019 of 31 May, Article 235). Delegates are charged with falsifying documents, which is punishable by a penalty of two to eight years imprisonment (Law No. 2/2019 of 31 May, Article 239).
Source: 2019 General Elections - Mozambique Political Process Bulleti
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