Mozambique: 17 Kidnapping cases recorded in Maputo city
Three PRM agents sentenced to 12 years for rape and passive corruption – Carta
6:59 CAT | 09 Aug 2021
Photo: Jornal Alerta
Three officers of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) assigned to the Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR) were sentenced this Wednesday to 12 years in prison for the practice of crimes of passive corruption and physical and sexual assault following an incident in the suburb of Mafalala, city of Maputo, in August, 2020.
In addition to imprisonment, the three defendants were each sentenced to pay compensation of 100,000 meticais to the victim, while for the crime of passive corruption they were sentenced to pay a daily fine of 50 meticais for a period of one year (18,750 meticais).
The Judicial Court of the KaMaxaquene Municipal District accepted as proved, through the evidence produced in the case, that the three agents physically and sexually assaulted a 22-year-old woman after finding her without a mask in the street.
According to the indictment, the three UIR agents acted clandestinely in the historic neighbourhood, demanding “oriento” [bribes] from anyone found unmasked. Those who failed to pay were subjected to physical abuse, and in the case of women, were raped – as happened to the 22-year-old.
According to Judge Esmeraldo Matavel, the penalties applied are, on the one hand, those that the criminal legislation allows, and, on the other, are adjusted to such violence committed against the victim as “constituted an attempt on her life and dignity”.
“They committed extreme abuse of office and function in the exercise of their functions, in addition to undermining the confidence of citizens in the neighbourhood in which they operated,” said Matavel, noting that the penalties were also intended to discourage other police officers from similar behaviour.
The court also prohibited the three UIR agents from exercising any function in the state apparatus for a period of six years after serving their prison sentences.
By Marta Afonso
Source: Carta de Moçambique
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