Nyusi calls for speedy resolution of the murders of State Defence Councilor and Public Prosecutor

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Nyusi calls for speedy resolution of the murders of State Defence Councilor and Public Prosecutor

10:28 CAT | 14 Apr 2016

In File Club of Mozambique / The deaths of Public Prosecutor Manue Vilankulo (L) and member of State Council for Defence and Security José Manuel (R) have shocked the country.

President of Mozambique and Frelimo, the country’s ruling party, Filipe Nyusi, yesterday called on judicial authorities for a speedy resolution of the murders of opposition member of the National Council of Defence and Security José Manuel and magistrate Marcelino Vilankulo.

“Frelimo strongly condemns the barbaric murder of José Manuel, a member of the National Council for Defence and Security in the city of Beira, and Marcelino Vilankulos, prosecutor in the city of Matola, and encourages the Defence and Security Forces to continue to look for a quick clarification of these heinous acts,” Nyusi said during his opening speech at the Fifth Ordinary Session of the Central Committee of the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo).

José Manuel, Renamo member of the National Council for Defence and Security and a member of the military wing of the main opposition party, was shot dead by unknown assailants on Saturday. The taxi driver driving him home from Beira airport and Manuel’s travelling companion also died.

Public prosecutor Marcelino Vilankulo was similarly shot on Monday night outside his home in Matola, about eight kilometres from the Mozambican capital, while returning from work.

The Mozambican press have associated the magistrate’s murder with his investigations into abductions allegedly involving Danish Satar, nephew of Nini Satar, who is on probation after serving a sentence for involvement in the murder in 2000 of journalist Carlos Cardoso.

Police spokesman Inacio Dina told Lusa yesterday that Vilankulo, with a career spanning over ten years as a magistrate, had been involved in several cases, stressing that it was premature to associate the prosecutor’s murder with kidnapping cases.

“Vilankulo had several other processes under his authority. One cannot make this claim categorically,” said Dina, adding that investigations were ongoing and that information relating to the case would be made public as and when appropriate.

Source: Lusa