UIR agents accused of murdering municipal police officer in Nampula – Ikweli

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UIR agents accused of murdering municipal police officer in Nampula – Ikweli

4:32 CAT | 29 Jul 2020

Screen grab: Miramar

Two agents from the Rapid Intervention Unit (UIR), a special branch of the Mozambican police (PRM), are accused of shooting dead a member of the Municipal and Inspection Police of the city of Nampula, in the north of the country.

The crime took place at the Eduardo Mondlane Unidade Comunal in the Nampaco neighbourhood, at dawn last Tuesday (28th), when the perpetrators deliberately shot 40-year-old Selemane Assane in front of his son.

According to the 16-year-old boy, the incident happened when his father returned home by car shortly after 1:00 a.m. and was questioned by the two UIR agents, who demanded that Assane prove his identity.

“He [the victim] was already at the front gate of the house. They demanded that my father call someone from home as a way of confirming that he lived there. He called me and I went to open the gate, and when he entered, in an attempt to park the car, the two agents entered the yard, and asked him where worked. When he replied that he worked in the municipality, one of them said: ‘It’s those bandits, so consider this a death’,’” the clearly distressed youth said.

According to the source, one of the policemen shot the victim, hitting him in the chest, and the pair then ran away. The still-conscious victim and his son left in the vehicle for the Central Hospital of Nampula (HCN), but Assane died on arrival.

The victim’s family demands that justice be done, his brother, Sualehe Assane told Ikweli, arguing that his brother was an honest and God-fearing man, and deeply religious.

“We don’t know who to trust. Policemen are trained to defend the population, but are the same as the enemy of the population. What country are we in?” the bereaved brother asks.

“He said to me: ‘I am already dead, take care of our children’.” These were the last words that the victim addressed to his wife, Júlia Dimas.

Spokesperson for the provincial command of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique in Nampula, Dércio Samuel, confirmed the outline of events to Ikweli, and said that investigations into the incident were underway.

Watch the TV Miramar report below. Miramar reports that one of the UIR agents has meanwhile been arrested.