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Mozambique: Elvino Dias Foundation to honour lawyer murdered a year ago in Maputo
7:06 CAT | 18 Oct 2025
File photo: Lusa
In Mozambique, former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane has announced that, by December, a foundation inspired by Elvino Dias, known as the “people’s lawyer” and murdered a year ago alongside Paulo Guambe, will be operational. Mondlane holds “death squads” responsible for the double homicide of his supporters on 18 October 2024, and is considering proposing a national protest regarding these unsolved crimes.
In an interview with Lusa, Mondlane said he expects the creation of the Elvino Dias Foundation, a tribute to the lawyer and his former legal adviser, to be published in the Diário da República “later this year”.
Dias was murdered on the night of 18 October 2024 alongside Paulo Guambe, a representative of Podemos, the party that supported Mondlane in the presidential election. The double homicide, involving dozens of shots, occurred a few days after the general elections of 9 October 2024, and remains unresolved.
“It is truly a foundation of the people. Since Elvino Dias was the ‘people’s lawyer’, the foundation will continue the work he did in defending the rights of the people,” Mondlane said.
Venâncio Mondlane, also founder and president of the National Alliance for a Free and Autonomous Mozambique (Anamola), is considering proposing a national protest regarding the double homicide.
“What I can say is that with the current regime and judicial system, it will be very difficult for us to obtain justice. That is why we need to put pressure on; that is why I am already beginning to propose the idea of a national protest regarding these unresolved crimes,” the politician said.
The crime remains unexplained and initially prompted protests that were suppressed by the police during the five-month widespread contestation of the election results. Mondlane blames “death squads” for the double homicide and does not believe there will be justice under the “current regime”.
Mondlane has said that near the crime scene on the busy Joaquim Chissano Avenue in Maputo, there are several public CCTV cameras as well as cameras at two banks and other institutions that could have identified “those who executed Paulo Guambe and Elvino Dias”, but, he says, these were not accessed during the investigation.
The Constitutional Council proclaimed Daniel Chapo the winner of the October presidential election on 23 December, two and a half months after voting, with 65.17% of the votes, followed by Venâncio Mondlane with 24%, although the latter has never recognised the results.
The electoral platform Decide reported in April that at least 388 people were killed and over 800 shot during about five months of post-election protests starting 21 October. Ninety percent of injuries “were caused by live ammunition”.
Daniel Chapo and Venâncio Mondlane met in Maputo for the first time since the elections on 23 March. The following day, Mondlane called for an end to violence, and no social unrest linked to the election dispute has been reported since.
Source: RFI
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