Maputo, 26 Jul (AIM) – The Mozambican police in Maputo on Tuesday used an armed contingent, plus police dogs, to prevent a vigil in honour of a young man who died in police custody.
The youth, Massacar Abacar (known by the nickname “Cebolinha”), was detained last Thursday, but on Saturday morning he died in a cell in the Maputo third police precinct.
Cebolinha’s family believe that the police murdered him, but the police insist that he had suffered a brain hemorrhage, and that his death was therefore from natural causes.
But the family believe there was nothing natural about the death, Ceblinha’s brother, Sergio Raimundo, cited in Wednesday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”, said “They put a plastic bag over his head so that he couldn’t breathe, and they killed him”,
The police rejected the family’s plan to hold a vigil in Cebolinha’s memory, claiming that the real intention was “to disturb public order”.
Calling on support from civil society organisations, the family had planned to hold their vigil in front of the third precinct. But the police made sure that nobody could approach the precinct. They blocked the road, not only to the relatives of Cebolinha, but to all other citizens.
Cebolinha’s mother said that she had gone to the third precinct, but was not allowed to see her son. “When I reached the police station, I asked if my son had been detained, and they said yes”, she recalled. “I said I wanted to see my son, and they didn’t let me see him”.
The police insisted on blocking the road, and thus aborting the vigil, even though less than 30 people had made their way towards the precinct.
The police claim they were just defending security, alleging that this part of the city has a potential for violence, since it is notorious for drug trafficking. “People could have used this opportunity to create disturbances”. Maputo city police spokesperson Leonel Muchina told reporters.
Muchina conformed that Cebolinha had indeed died on police premises, but had lost his life “due to a brain hemorrhage, which was not caused by any physical aggression”.
At no time, he claimed, had Cebolinha been attacked by the police.
(AIM)
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