Mozambique: Journalist heard for alleged violation of state secrecy

Login

Register

http://www.clubofmozambique.com/

Mozambique: Journalist heard for alleged violation of state secrecy

8:17 CAT | 15 Jul 2020

FILE PHOTO - Journalist Matias Guente - Mozambique Channel Editor [File photo: DW / Romeu da Silva]

Journalist Matias Guente has been questioned about articles on the armed violence in Cabo Delgado published by the weekly Canal de Moçambique. In focus are contracts between the government and Anadarko classified as confidential.

The editor of the weekly ‘Canal de Moçambique’, Matias Guente, was interviewed at the Maputo city attorney’s office (PGR) this Friday (10.07) as part of a case in which he is accused of alleged violation of state secrecy in texts on armed violence in Cabo Slender.

A source linked to the case told Lusa news agency that the magistrate in charge of the case quizzed Matias Guente about the newspaper’s sources and the motivation behind the publishing in March of this year of articles concerning contracts signed in February 2019 between the Mozambican government and the American oil company Anadarko.

The contracts, which Canal de Moçambique referred to as “war business”, concerned the protection of the Rovuma basin natural gas projects in Cabo Delgado province from armed attacks in the region.

The magistrate also wanted to know what led the newspaper to write about contracts that carried a “confidential” stamp on the cover.

Matias Guente’s hearing lasted about three hours and the journalist was accompanied by his lawyer and the journalist Ericino de Salema.

Neither party made any statement to the media at the end of the hearing, which took place under the rule of judicial secrecy [segredo de justiça].

Interviewed by DW in June, Matias Guente said he did not feel intimidated, saying: “The state has to ensure that journalists carry out their activity in a climate of security and independence.”

The director of the newspaper, Fernando Veloso, also stands accused in the same case, but has not yet been interviewed, since he is in Portugal for medical treatment.

Source: Deutsche Welle