Maputo, 29 Sep (AIM) – Judge Tome Valente, of the first criminal section in the Beira City Court, in central Mozambique, on Friday ordered the release of three members of the opposition Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), who had been arrested on Tuesday.
According to a report on the independent television station STV, the judge said he had been surprised to find the case waiting for him when he arrived at the courtroom. He had known nothing about the arrests previously.
The MDM members detained are the party’s Sofala provincial political delegate, Marcelino Manhasso, the Beira city delegate, Picardo Sola, and the head of the MDM Youth League in Beira, Fernando Augusto.
The three men were accused of illegally detaining a member of the ruling Frelimo Party on Tuesday, the first day of the municipal election campaign. The Frelimo member had been caught red-handed collecting voter cards in the Beira neighbourhood of Vaz.
Voter cards are personal property that cannot be passed on to anybody else. The voter card is the primary means by which voters identify themselves at the polling stations.
Judge Valente said he did not have enough evidence to hold a trial of the three MDM members. So he ordered their release.
The prosecutor in the case agreed with the judge, while an MDM lawyer said there was no legal basis for the arrests in the first place.
A trial may be held later, but in the meantime, the three will remain at liberty.
Also in Beira, the main opposition party, Renamo, has suffered a blow to its morale with the defection to the MDM of Bilal Sulay, a son of the late leader of Renamo, Afonso Dhlakama, who died of diabetes in 2018.
While his father was leading Renamo, Sulay had been the party’s official photographer. But on Tuesday, the MDM mayor of Beira, Albano Carige, presented him as a member of the MDM.
It is not yet known what official role, if any, Bilal Sulay will perform in the MDM.
(AIM)
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