Maputo, 11 Feb (AIM) – A 25-year-old man, named Bartolomeu Cristiano Russumbe, was tortured to death earlier this month by a police officer in Mussumbuluco neighborhood, in the southern Mozambican municipality of Matola, according to a prominent NGO, the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD).
The CDD, which was responsible for legal assistance to the victim’s family, said that the arrest of the accused, known as Xavito, was “legalized on 8 February, and he was transferred to Machava Central Prison”.
The incident occurred when the police officer, who had no arrest warrant, entered the victim’s house claiming that he had stolen his belongings (a plasma TV, a freezer, a bed and a carpet).
“The officer dragged the victim to his home, where, with the support of three neighbors, he tied him to a tree and beat him until he foamed at the mouth”, reads a note from the CDD.
After the torture, the attacker took the victim to the police station, but there he was told take him to a health centre.
When the victim’s sister, Eugenia, realized that her brother was missing, she went to the fourth police precinct in the Liberdade neighborhood, where she was told that he was taken to hospital by his attacker.
According to Eugénia, once there, she learnt that the body of her brother had been abandoned in the morgue.
“These events were witnessed by the victim’s girlfriend, who was also subjected to torture and forced to confess that her boyfriend had stolen goods”, the CDD said.
(AIM)
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