Mozambique: Beira police beat citizen to death

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Mozambique: Beira police beat citizen to death

3:59 CAT | 21 Apr 2020

Photo: O País

Two Mozambican policemen have been accused beating a man to death in the central city of Beira, reported the independent television station STV on Tuesday.

The man, 44 year old Abdul Razak, had intended to film the police on Sunday morning in the Beira neighbourhood of Munhava. The police had dispersed a group of adolescents playing football, in defiance of the rules on social distancing, under the current state of emergency.

As the youths ran from the police, they dropped their ball. The police picked up the ball, and began to play football themselves. At this point, Razak criticised the attitude of the policemen and said he would film them.

There is nothing illegal about filming police activities in a public place, but the two policemen turned on Razak and began beating him with their guns. Passers-by urged the policemen to stop the violence, but they ignored all such appeals.

Eventually, the badly battered Razak was thrown into a cell in the Beira fourth precinct. Three hours later, his relatives found him there and demanded his release.

“They demanded beer from us and 300 meticais (about 4.5 US dollars”, said Razak’s sister. “Since we wanted our relative, we paid the money and he was released. But he was very weak and on the way to the hospital he died”.

The results of the autopsy, shown to STV, indicate that Razak died of trauma caused by being struck with heavy objects.

The Beira city police command has promised an inquiry into the killing of Razak. “If it is proved that our colleagues acted outside of the law, they will be held responsible. There will be disciplinary and criminal proceedings against them”, said Dercio Chacate, spokesperson for the Beira police public relations department.

Source: AIM