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Mozambique: Bar association accuses judge of ‘tyranny, intimidation’
7:54 CAT | 09 Feb 2022
Screen grab: Ordem dos Advogados de Moçambique on Youtube
The Mozambican Bar Association (OAM) on Tuesday accused the judge in the hidden debts case of “tyrannical behaviour” and “intimidation” of lawyers, noting that it would react within the law to respect the dignity of the class.
“The judge has behaved in a tyrannical way in the trial and has attacked lawyers” without letting them “discuss the issues freely and under the law”, said Duarte Casimiro, the chair of the Bar Association.
Casimiro referred to the expulsion of lawyers Salvador Nkamate and Jaime Sunda from the trial room following disagreements with the judge on Friday.
“The OAM repudiates the systematic behaviour of judge Efigénio Baptista in attacking lawyers with recourse to abuse of judicial power and threats without legal cover to limit the exercise of the constitutionally enshrined legal profession,” Casimiro Duarte said.
The judge, he continued, deprives lawyers of the floor and threatens to throw them out of the courtroom when they complain.
“It is unreasonable for a judge to call the police on a lawyer who is peacefully leaving the courtroom”, continued the OAM chair.
Duarte considered that the judge had pre-judged some issues in the case, accusing the magistrate of creating an atmosphere of fear.
“The judge has put up barriers, in an arbitrary manner and often resorting to abuse of power and threats, not to allow the lawyers and the assistant to discuss the controversial matters of the case freely to discover the material truth”, he stressed.
He noted that some lawyers are participating in the trial on behalf of the OAM, as this entity is an assistant in the case and assists the Public Prosecutor in the prosecution.
On Friday, the judge ordered lawyer Salvador Nkamate to leave the courtroom after saying he does not condone “ignorance” during a discussion on the hearing as a declarant of another lawyer who is not participating in the hidden debts trial.
Lawyer Jaime Sunda was also expelled from the session after telling Efigénio Baptista that he should “know how to listen”.
Watch the press conference.
Source: Lusa / Ordem dos Advogados de Moçambique on Youtube
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