Human rights defenders condemn violence against protesters

Maputo, 22 Oct (AIM) – Mozambique’s Network of Human Rights Defenders (RMDDH) has condemned the violence used on Monday by the police against protesters who were repudiating the murder of prominent opposition lawyer Elvino Dias and the election agent of the Podemos party, Paulo Guambe.

Dias and Guambe were murdered on Friday night in central Maputo. Dias was the lawyer for independent presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane, and Podemos. He was known to be working on the appeals against electoral fraud that Podemos intended to submit to the Constitutional Council, the country’s highest body in matters of constitutional and electoral law.

“The Police behavior against defenseless people makes no sense. The Police jeopardized many rights, especially the right to life as well as the right to demonstrate. They jeopardized the physical integrity of the protesters, and they attacked the freedom of the press and expression”, reads the statement.

The Human Rights Defenders call on the attorney general’s office (PGR) to carry out investigations in order to hold to account those who promoted violence against defenseless people.

“The PGR’s silence on this hideous violence against human rights shows that it favors the perpetrators of violence. The violent intervention by the police, in Maputo city, also injured seven people, including journalists and human rights defenders”, the document says.

The note also revealed that in the central province of Tete, the Police murdered a protester during demonstrations.

For its part, the Higher Mass Media Council (CSCS) condemned the Police violence against media professionals when they were interviewing the independent presidential candidate, Venancio Mondlane.

“The defense and security forces must guarantee the safety of media professionals while they are exercising their professional activities, and the justification of collateral damage must not be used to harm journalists”, said the CSCS statement. “We condemn the violence used against journalists during the strike. This violates the press law, which determines free access to public places”.

The document also pointed out that “violence against journalists or the destruction of their working equipment is illegal. These acts are authoritarian and they put in danger press freedom and the right to information, as well as the democratic rule of law and the fundamental rights enshrined in the Mozambican Constitution.”
(AIM)
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