Matavel murder: Senior officers claim no knowledge of assassination plan – AIM report

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Matavel murder: Senior officers claim no knowledge of assassination plan – AIM report

4:35 CAT | 15 May 2020

The commander of the Gaza provincial company of the Special Operations Group (GOE) of the Mozambican police, Tudela Guirrugo, on Wednesday told the Gaza provincial court, sitting in the provincial capital, Xai-Xai, that he knew nothing about “the mission” which five of his subordinates undertook on 7 October.

That “mission” was the assassination of civil society and election observation activist. Anastacio Matavel. The five GOE members formed a death squad and in the pre-trial investigation, Guirrugo told prosecutors that he had handpicked them, and that he was acting on the orders of Alfredo Macuacua, the commander of the Gaza branch of the Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR – the Mozambican Riot Police).

He gave a somewhat different version in a second interview, saying that, after receiving orders from Macuacua, he ordered Agapito Matavele to form the five member squad “to carry out a mission”.

But in court, he denied his earlier statements and said he had only mentioned Macuacua’s name because “I was desperate”, and by dragging in Macuacua’s name, he might escape. If so, he miscalculated, since both he and Macuacua were arrested and charged with the murder.

Of the five members of the death squad, two (Nobrega Chauque and Martins Wilismo) died in a major traffic accident immediately after the murder, while Agapito Matavele has gone into hiding. So only two members of the squad, Euclidio Mapulasse and Edson Silica, are in the dock. Both testified that Guirrugo attended preparatory missions on 4, 5 and 6 October.

Guirrugo admitted that he had been present, but denied that the meetings discussed “the mission”. He wanted the court to believe that one of the most senior police officers in the province had met with five of his subordinates on three successive nights merely to drink beer.

Although Guirrugo supposedly knew nothing of “the mission”, the leader of the death squad, Agapito Matavele, rang Guirrugo’s cell phone three times and sent 21 text messages on the day of the murder.

Guirrugo admitted that Agapito told him he had hidden his gun, an AK-47 assault rifle, in a Xai-Xai cemetery. So Guirrugo went to recover it that evening. He told the court he knew he gun had been used in the murder of Anastacio Matavel. Instead of telling anyone else in the police, Guirrugo simply returned it to the police armoury.

On Thursday, Macuacua told the court he knew nothing about the murder, and denied that he had ordered Guirrugo to select the members of the death squad. He recognised that there were “irregularities” in the removal of guns by the squad members from the UIR armoury, but said it had nothing to do with him, since he knew nothing about the group’s “mission”.

“I don’t know why I’ve been charged”, said Macuacua. “I didn’t give orders to Guirrugo to select any group for a mission as strange as this”.

His subordinate, Januario Rungo, the then chief of staff of the Gaza UIR, admitted his involvement in the crime. According to the report of the trial in the Maputo daily “Noticias”, he told the court he had authorised the falsification of documents for the improper withdrawal from the armoury of the guns used to assassinate Matavel.

The fake documents indicated that the guns had been withdrawn and returned normally, whereas, according to the prosecution, they had been taken out of the armoury illegally on 19 and 24 September, and on 6 October, and then returned after the murder.

Rungo said he had authorised a subordinate, Justino Muchanga, to sign the false documents. The purpose, he admitted, was “to confuse the justice system”.

Source: AIM