MISA demands end to impunity for crimes against Journalists

Maputo, 18 Dec (AIM) – The Mozambican chapter of the regional press freedom body MISA (Media Institute of Southern Africa) on Monday delivered a petition to the Attorney-General’s Office (PGR) in Maputo, demanding serious measures to put an end to impunity for crimes against journalists.

The petition comes four days after the murder of journalist Joao Chamusse at his home in the Maputo municipal district of Katembe.

The police have announced the detention of a suspect, who is one of Chamusse’s neighbours. Stolen property belonging to Chamusse was found in the suspect’s house.

However, the credibility of the police is so low that this detention is regarded with great skepticism. Relatives of Chamusse, and other neighbours, deny that the man detained had anything to do with the murder.

The MISA petition pointed to apathy by the authorities towards repeated violence against journalists, up to and including murder. It urged the PGR and the other institutions of justice to take more serious and responsible measures to end the impunity with which such crimes are committed.

Failure by the Public Prosecutor’s Office to undertake meaningful criminal investigation, MISA warned, merely feeds impunity, encourages crimes against media professionals and institutionalizes fear within Mozambican society.

The PGR, MISA pointed out, has the constitutional and statutory power to end impunity and make the democratic rule of law and of social justice a reality.

Otherwise, the Public Prosecutor will become an accomplice in the crimes against journalists.

MISA submitted the petition after a march through central Maputo by a hundred or so journalists and human rights activists, condemning the murder of Chamusse, and demanding the right of journalists to operate free from the fear of violence.

The chairperson of MISA-Mozambique, Jeremias Langa, urged the Public Prosecutor’s Office to undertake a serious investigation that would establish the true circumstances of Chamusse’s death, and who was behind this murder.

Such an investigation, he said, would be important “for the climate of freedom in Mozambique”.

Journalists felt intimidated, Langa claimed, because they do not know why Chamusse was murdered. He promised that MISA will follow all the steps taken by the authorities until a definitive solution of the case.

(AIM)

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