Mozambique: Bar Association files charges against soldiers for Maputo protest hit-and-run

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Mozambique: Bar Association files charges against soldiers for Maputo protest hit-and-run

7:51 CAT | 30 Nov 2024

File photo: LuisaNhantumbo/Lusa

The Mozambique Bar Association (OAM) on Friday filed a criminal charge with the public prosecutor’s office against the soldiers who ran over a young woman during post-election protests, labelling the action “criminal, violent, barbaric and gratuitous”.

In the press release sent to Lusa, the Bar Association also stated that it had asked the ministries of National Defence and the Interior, the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces and the General Commander of the police for “disciplinary procedures” against the soldiers involved in the hit-and-run, as well as the shooting and killing of at least three people in the northern province of Nampula.

“It is manifestly clear that the conduct of the defence and security forces is criminal and did not comply with the requirements of necessity, exigibility and, above all, proportionality and weighting,” reads the document, which classifies the action as “criminal and cowardly”.

“Such behaviour cannot be covered up by the legitimacy of its function, as it is clearly violence, embodied in a profound and unacceptable abuse of power. In these cases, all legal limits and the boundaries of decency have been exceeded,” the statement added.

The lawyers stress that demonstrating is a constitutional right, and point out that it is a “serious mistake” to consider what is provided for in the legislation as “favourable”.

“What we witnessed was violent, barbaric and gratuitous to everyone’s shock. There are no words, in a democracy, to describe this barbarity,” the Bar Association emphasised.

“It was crystal clear that the defence and security forces of the Republic of Mozambique were the main promoters of the violence (…). Nothing justifies these barbaric and repugnant acts,” the organisation concluded.

The armed forces (FADM) said on Wednesday that they had run over a young woman in the Mozambican capital, clarifying that the vehicle was “on a mission to protect economic assets” from demonstrators and that the victim was taken to hospital.

“This vehicle was on a mission to protect essential economic assets, clean and unblock roads as part of the post-election demonstrations and was part of a duly signposted military convoy,” reads a press release from Mozambique’s Ministry of Defence to which Lusa had access.

The Nampula Central Hospital (HCN), the largest in northern Mozambique, today confirmed three deaths and 27 injuries, including serious and minor, in the demonstrations on Wednesday to contest the election results.

Maputo Central Hospital (HCM), the largest in the country, also confirmed that at least six people were injured, including the young woman who was run over during clashes between demonstrators and the police on Wednesday.

Venâncio Mondlane has called these demonstrations, which have degenerated into clashes with the police – who have resorted to firing tear gas and shots to disperse them – as a way of contesting the awarding of victory to Daniel Chapo, the candidate supported by the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, in power), with 70.67% of the vote, according to the results announced on 24 October by the National Electoral Commission (CNE), which have yet to be validated and proclaimed by the Constitutional Council.

Source: Lusa