Maputo, 13 Dec (AIM) – The Mozambican police on Tuesday afternoon shot dead a young man selling fish in the fish market in the town of Marromeu, in the central province of Sofala.
Accrding to the latest issue of the bulletin on the municipal elections issue by the anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP), the victim was named Tito Joao.
He was shot in the head, and died instantly, since the bullet smashed right through his skull,
Tito Joao’s death occurred during a demonstration held by the main opposition party, Renamo, in Marromeu to protest against the municipal election results.
During the march, which opposed the results of the repeat election in the municipality, divulged on Monday by the district branch of STAE (Electoral Administration Technical Secretariat), the police intercepted the Renamo motorcade, which provoked rioting. The police opened fire, and one of the bullets hit Tito Joao, who was merely selling his fish, and has nothing to do with the demonstration,
In its notice to remove the body, the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) did not reveal that Tito João, had been killed by a police bullet. The document merely noted “A male human body was found without signs of life”.
However, SERNIC did admit that Joao was not a demonstrator, but “a citizen going about his activities of selling fish”.
Renamo claims that it won the Sunday election in Marromeu, and on Monday it submitted an appeal to the relevant bodies protesting at the results announced by STAE, which it regards as fraudulent. Also on Monday, the Renamo mayoral candidate, and Renamo members and supporters took to the streets celebrating and chanting “Renamo has won”.
Renamo says it has a conducted a parallel vote count, based on the results sheets (“editais”) from all the Marromeu polling stations, which show that it won about 59 per cent of the vote, with the ruling Frelimo Party coming second on only 32 per cent.
STAE has not published the editais on which it bases its claim of a 52 per cent victory for Frelimo.
(AIM)
Pf/ (352)