Maputo, 3 Oct (AIM) – The trial in the central city of Beira of three members of the Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM), the country’s second largest opposition party, has been postponed until Thursday.
The MDM members are charged with the offences of kidnapping and private imprisonment.
One of the accused, Marcelino Manhasso, the MDM Sofala provincial delegate, claims that he found an individual illegally extracting voter card numbers from citizens on the public highway on the opening day of the election campaign (26 September).
“The young man was captured and presented to the public on the same day as the start of the election campaign. The young man’s family then went to the police station to report the kidnapping of their relative, which led to the MDM members being arrested”, he said.
The judge of the first criminal section of the Beira City Court, Tomé Valente, according to Tuesday’s issue of the independent daily “O País”, postponed the trial because two more people need to be heard in order to better prepare the evidence.
“At the request of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the court, after hearing the defence, it was deemed essential to hear Luísa Munguiane, the person who witnessed the events, and also to request the presence of the officer on duty at the police station on the night of 26 to 27 September, when the events took place”, said the judge.
Marcelino Manhasso says that the evidence shows that he is the victim of political cabal intent on damaging the MDM.
The trial was initially set for last Friday, but the judge said the first thing he knew about the case was when the papers landed on his desk on Friday morning. He said he did not have enough evidence to hold a trial there and then, and ordered the release of the three MDM members who could wait for their trial in freedom.
(AIM)
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