Mozambique: Killer of Quelimane musician Max Love sentenced in absentia to 20 years

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Mozambique: Killer of Quelimane musician Max Love sentenced in absentia to 20 years

8:12 CAT | 11 Nov 2021

Screen grab: Miramar

The Zambezia Provincial Court, sitting in the central Mozambican city of Quelimane, on Tuesday sentenced to 20 years imprisonment the policeman who shot dead the musician Jaime Paulo Caminho (better known by his stage name of Max Love) in 2013,

The killer, Manuel Jose, must also pay the family of Max Love compensation of 800,000 meticais (about 12.500 US dollars, at current exchange rates).

Jose has disappeared, and so he was tried in absentia.

The murder occurred on 21 November 2013, when a crowd had gathered outside the Zambezia governor’s palace, celebrating the victory of the opposition Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), and its mayoral candidate, Manuel de Araujo, in the Quelimane municipal elections held the previous month.

Manuel Jose, a police officer, stationed to the unit charged with guarding high ranking figures opened fire on the crowd, killing Max Love. For eight years, Max Love’s family, supported by Quelimane municipal council, has been demanding justice.

To the surprise of the family’s lawyer, Saimone Macuiana, nobody from the Public Prosecutor’s Office was present when the judge, Natercia Geronimo, read out her verdict and sentence. Normally Mozambican courts do not announce decisions in the absence of the prosecution.

The judge came to the courtroom earlier than scheduled (which may explain why there were no journalists present either).

Local members of the MDM were skeptical about the chances of locating and jailing the killer. Cited by the German agency, DW Africa, the Quelimane MDM political delegate, Listano Evaristo, asked “Where are they going to look for him?”

Watch the Miramar report.

Source: AIM / Miramar