Maputo, 24 Apr (AIM) – Most of the cases of terrorism last year in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado could not be prosecuted because the perpetrators were not identified, Attorney-General Beatriz Buchili said on Wednesday.
Giving her annual report on the state of the justice system to the country’s parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, she said that prosecutors had dealt with 86 cases, drawing up charge sheets in 18 cases, but declining to prosecute in 68. A further137 cases are still at the stage of preparatory investigation.
Only seven cases of terrorism were brought to trial over the year. Nine people, all of them Mozambicans were charged. Six were sentenced to up to 24 years imprisonment and three were acquitted.
Buchili said the large number of cases shelved was due to “the peculiarities of the type of terrorism that occurs in our country, where the facts often take place in zones of conflict, making it difficult to collect evidence, and to identify those involved”.
She argued that the main stress of state intervention should be on preventing terrorism, through identifying those who finance terrorist organisations, and the way the money is transferred, as well as the origin of the military equipment used by terrorists.
The Attorney-General’s Office is now the “National Authority for the Designation of Terrorists”. Its first list of 46 individuals and organisations designated as terrorist was published in 2023. A second list, containing 16 names was published last week.
These lists, said Buchili, allowed the authorities to block or freeze bank accounts and other assets, and exercise greater control over people who present a risk of involvement in terrorist activities.
Following publication of the first list, in 2023, “financial institutions and mobile phone companies communicated attempts to undertake financial operations or to register phone numbers in favour of names on the list, which allowed the Public Prosecutor’s Office to take preventive measures”.
Buchili also noted “weaknesses in the issuing of identity and travel documents, which are sometimes used for criminal purposes”.
With the connivance of some Mozambican public servants, Mozambican identity cards were issued, based on false birth certificates, false statements by community authorities or phoney marriages.
“There are cases where foreign citizens acquire Mozambican passports fraudulently, and then travel abroad to commit crimes, identifying themselves as Mozambican citizens”, she said.
(AIM)
Pf/ (397)
