Mozambique: Two judges expelled

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Mozambique: Two judges expelled

6:59 CAT | 07 Jan 2022

Photo: in file CoM

The Higher Council of the Judicial Magistracy (CSMJ), the regulatory body for the Mozambican law courts, has expelled two judges from the profession for corrupt behavour, reports Friday’s issue of the independent newsheet “Carta De Moçambique”.

The better known case, decided by the CSMJ at a plenary session held in late December in the southern resort of Ponta de Ouro, concerned Rui Dauane of the Maputo City Court, whom the CSMJ sacked and forced into compulsory retirement.

He was accused of lack of seriousness and honesty and of violating the ethical duties expected of a judge. Dauane was involved in several polemical cases, but the most serious was his release of Edith D’Compta da Camara Cylindo.

She was accused of participating in the kidnapping of business people in 2017, but Dauane set her free. According to the CSMJ, he ignored the evidence against her and ordered her release, in violation of the Penal Procedural Code.

Attempts to re-arrest her, so that she could face charges of money laundering were foiled because, once released, she could not be located.

Cylindo was eventually brought to trial in a separate court, the Maputo provincial court, sitting in Matola, for her involvement in the assassination in 2016 of prominent prosecutor Marcelino Vilanculos.

The prosecution argued that she provided the death squad with information on the movements of Vilanculos. Not only did she follow the prosecutor’s car, but she also photographed Vilanculos, and gave the photos to the man who led the death squad, Jose Ali Coutinho. According to the prosecution, after the murder Coutinho paid Cylindo 500,000 meticais (about 8,400 US dollars, at the exchange rate of the time).

Initially Cylindo was acquitted for lack of evidence tying her to the killing. But the prosecution appealed against Cylindo’s acquittal – and won. The appeals court threw out the original verdict and sentenced Cylindo to 22 years imprisonment. Her behaviour, the court found, had facilitated the murder. She had participated in act that contributed directly to the preparation and execution of the crime.

The CSMJ also expelled from the judicial profession Acacio Mitalage, a judge in the Matutuine district court in Maputo province. He was accused of stealing over 3.7 million meticais (about 58,000 US dollars at the current exchange rate) from the funds of the Matutuine court.

In addition to expelling Mitalage, the CSMJ has remitted the case to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, for criminal proceedings against him.

Source: AIM