Mozambican bishops condemn attacks on freedom of expression

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Mozambican bishops condemn attacks on freedom of expression

1:14 CAT | 11 Apr 2018

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The president of the Episcopal Commission for Justice and Peace (CEJP), which brings together the Catholic bishops of Mozambique, said yesterday that attacks on freedom of expression in the country were harmful to democracy.

The attacks are “very bad for democracy and prevent people from living freely,” CEJP President Luiz Fernando Lisboa told a press conference in Maputo at the start of a cycle of debates on social dynamics.

The bishop repudiated the abduction and assault on March 27 of journalist and commentator Ericino de Salema, saying that no citizen should suffer reprisals for exercising fundamental rights and freedoms.

“The episcopal conference, like the entire country, repudiates that barbaric act. No person should be tortured for thinking differently,” said Lisboa.

The president of CEJP stressed that societies must cultivate differences of opinion as a diversity lending vitality to social coexistence and democracy.

“No person, no party, no power can achieve unanimity.” Jesus himself was not unanimous, he was a disturbance in his time because he spoke the truth and the truth disturbs.

Ericino de Salema was a commentator on the ‘Points of View’ political discussion programme aired in Mozambique by the privately owned STV channel.

Although police say they are still investigating the crime and the motives are not conclusively established, civil society organisations associate the case with violence perpetrated against figures who are critical of the government and the Mozambican Liberation Front (Frelimo).

In 2015, French-born Mozambican constitutionalist Gilles Cistac was fatally shot in the Mozambican capital, and the following year, political scientist José Macuane survived after being kidnapped and shot at a time when he was also a commentator for ‘Pontos de Vista’.

None of the crimes have been clarified by the authorities.

Source: Lusa