Escapee suspect allegedly drove the car of the hit squad that murdered Marcelino Vilanculos – Mozambique

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Escapee suspect allegedly drove the car of the hit squad that murdered Marcelino Vilanculos – Mozambique

7:48 CAT | 02 Nov 2016

File photo / The shattered window of the car where Public Prosecutor Marcelino Vilanculos was brutally murdered, April 11, 2016, outside his house in Malhampsene, Matola.

One of the three men arrested in connection with the murder, on 11 April, of senior prosecutor Marcelino Vilanculos has escaped from a Maputo prison.

According to a report in Wednesday’s issue of the independent newssheet ‘Mediafax’, Abdul Tembe, allegedly the man who drove the car of the hit squad that murdered Vilanculos, escaped from Maputo Central Prison on the night of 24 October.

That was the night when a violent thunderstorm hit Maputo, and the noise of the storm might have made it easier for Tembe to cut through the bars in his cell window without being heard.

Tembe was initially held in the cells of the Maputo Police Command, in the centre of the city, but was moved to the Central Prison, in the suburb of Machava, supposedly to protect him, since the other two accused, Amade Antonio and Jose Coutinho, had made threats against him. This makes little sense, since security at the Police Command is much tighter than at the Central Prison.

Antonio and Coutinho are still incarcerated at the Police Command. ‘Mediafax’ reports that they had allegedly been putting pressure on Tembe to change the statements he had made shortly after the trio were arrested.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office believes that other people were involved in the assassination. The men arrested were the hit squad, and are believed to have been taking instructions from others, perhaps those implicated in some of the sensitive cases that Vilanculos was investigating.

The director of the Central Prison, Castigo Machaieie, cited in the Maputo daily ‘Noticias’, said that Tembe had somehow acquired a sharp instrument to cut through the cell bars, and then slipped past the prison guards.

Machaieie said a commission of inquiry has been set up and will ascertain whether any of the guards on duty that night helped Tembe to escape.

The acting chairperson of the Mozambican Association of Attorneys, Nelia Correia, told reporters that the escape strengthens the feelings of insecurity among prosecutors. At the funeral of Vilanculos, the government had come under sharp criticism for failing to provide the protection due to prosecutors handling sensitive cases.

Nonetheless, Correia insisted that the case against the three suspects will press ahead, regardless of Tembe’s escape – if necessary, Tembe will be tried in absentia.

“The trial will happen with or without the fugitive”, she said. “Through his escape he has lost an opportunity to prove his innocence, since under the terms of the law he enjoys the presumption of innocence”.

Correia added that, despite the murder of Vilanculos, no tangible measures have been taken to improve the security of prosecutors.

Attorneys had held a series of meetings and debates, and had then submitted a document to the Attorney-General’s Office containing recommendations on security. “We are waiting for the government to analyse our proposals”, said Correia.

Source: AIM