Mozambique: Long prison sentences for would-be terrorists – DW report

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Mozambique: Long prison sentences for would-be terrorists – DW report

10:09 CAT | 31 Jan 2022

Image: DW

Cabo Delgado Judicial Court has sentenced 22 individuals to long prison terms for having participated in, or having intended to participate in, acts of terrorism.

The fourth section of the Judicial Court of Cabo Delgado Province has found the 22 crew members of a vessel wrecked in Pemba on June 4, 2020, guilty of involvement in terrorism.

Forty-six people were on board a boat that departed Memba, in Nampula province, for the district of Mocímboa da Praia, in neighbouring Cabo Delgado province, before it sank off Pemba Bay. Twelve people died in the accident, including eight children.

At the time, the youngsters arrested said that they were only intending to fish in the region, but the sentence read by Judge Zacarias Napatima refutes this, drawing attention to the fact that the area was at the time a notorious war zone, which only the military entered from one side, “and, from the other side, the terrorists”.

Appeal to patriotism

Four defendants accused of belonging to the terrorist group destabilizing northern Mozambique were sentenced to a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Ten defendants were sentenced to 26 years and six months.

Another six defendants, who were minors when they were arrested, will serve ten years and six months in prison. Defendant Chamina Buana, who fell ill during the period of detention, will be tried separately, by order of the court.

caption – The defendants were sentenced to long prison terms.

Judge Zacarias Napatima stressed that the convictions were not a punishment but the path to rehabilitation through re-education. And he launched an appeal: “This country is ours, it belongs to Mozambicans. It is we who have to defend and strengthen it. And we cannot get involved in strange groups, or be urged by foreigners to destroy our own economy, tranquillity and peace.”

Appeal

The conviction was welcomed by Marcelino Paulo, on behalf of the Public Prosecutor. “It was a fair decision, which was based on elements that were produced throughout the process, on the factual evidence and statements that we heard,” he said.

Falume Anli, the court-appointed lawyer defending those convicted, said that only after careful analysis of the verdict would he decide whether or not to appeal the sentences. “I don’t have any comment, because the sentence has not yet been finalised,” he said.

Source: Deutsche Welle