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In file Club of Mozambique.
The policeman who shot a citizen dead in a market in the central Mozambican city of Beira on Sunday is facing a charge of first degree murder, according to a spokesperson for the Sofala Provincial Police Command, cited by the independent television station STV.
The problem arose when a member of the armed forces (FADM), who was in plain clothes, spotted two uniformed policemen drinking in an informal bar in the Matacuane market. According to a report on the incident in Monday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Mediafax”, the off-duty soldier asked the two policemen to stop drinking, pointing out that the their behaviour was damaging the image of the entire defence and security apparatus,
An argument ensued, and was still under way when a young taxi driver stopped his three wheeler cab (known as a “txopela”) nearby to attend a call on his mobile phone. The policemen jumped to the conclusion that he was using his phone to film them drinking. Even if this were true, there would be nothing improper about filming in a public place such as a market.
One of the policemen pulled out his pistol and shot the taxi driver in the head at point blank range. He died on the spot.
The market erupted in fury and turned on the police. One of the policemen and the off-duty soldier managed to escape, but the crowd grabbed the second policeman, believed to be the one who fired the shot, and beat him severely. Only the arrival of two police cars from a nearby precinct saved him from lynching.
He was taken to Beira Central Hospital in a coma. The Police Command, however, seems to have accepted that he was responsible for what had happened, and announced that he will face a murder charge as well as internal disciplinary proceedings.
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