Mozambique: Inhabitants flee villages afraid of insurgent attacks
BDK Attorneys
South African lawyer Rudi Krause expects his client, Mozambique’s former finance minister Manuel Chang, who was detained in Johannesburg while in transit to Dubai, to be released on bail soon.
Krause said that at Tuesday’s hearing at Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court the defence would focus on securing bail while Chang awaited subsequent proceedings for his requested extradition to the USA.
“It does not make sense for my client to remain in detention until the extradition process is decided,” Krause said, according to the Carta de Moçambique.
Krause said that the US Department of Justice had not yet submitted all the necessary paperwork to support the extradition request and had 60 days to do so, counting from the day Chang was detained.
Chang therefore faces a possible two months in jail pending a decision, but Krause sees no reason why Armando Guebuza’s former minister should be held for so long before his trial.
Krause says there is no risk of flight, adding that the fact that Chang’s three co-defendants held in London last week – New Zealander Andrew Pearse, Briton Surjan Singh and Bulgarian Detelina Subeva – all obtained release on bail, would be raised at Tuesday’s hearing.
Krause noted that Chang was in jail but had the right to telephone communication and to receive visitors and had already met a delegation sent by the Mozambican government, which was supporting him.
The hearing in the Kempton Park Court Room D is scheduled for 09:00 a.m. and will be open to the public, the lawyer said.
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