Maputo, 20 Dec (AIM) – The family of murdered lawyer Elvino Dias has been forced to leave their home after receiving death threats from individuals believed to be members of the same death squad that murdered Dias.
Dias was the lawyer and legal advisor of the presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, backed by the Optimistic Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), in the general elections held on 9 October. Dias and Paulo Guambe, a Podemos election agent, were shot dead by unknown assailants in central Maputo on 19 October.
Dias was murdered when he was preparing a challenge to be submitted to the Constitutional Council, Mozambique’s highest body in matters of electoral law, in order to denounce the irregularities that occurred during the elections.
As a result of his lawyer’s murder, Mondlane decided to abandon Mozambique, and has been broadcasting to his supporters from an undisclosed location, believed to be somewhere in Europe.
Mondlane has been calling for mass demonstrations since 21 October in order to protest against the allegedly fraudulent preliminary results announced by the National Elections Commission (CNE). He claims that he won the elections, and that the CNE results that give victory to the ruling Frelimo party and its candidate Daniel Chapo, are based on fraudulent data.
According to a report by a Mozambican NGO, the Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD), Dias’ widow and children have been living in an unknown place for days, because of constant threats and an attempted kidnapping.
“What forced her to leave her home was when, a few days ago, she and her children escaped an attempted kidnapping. At the moment, Dias’ family is crying out for help and protection. They fear that those who killed the lawyer could harm them. These are the same death squads that murdered the lawyer”, reads the report.
The organization believes that this situation demolishes “the [Police] tragicomic narrative that had been sold to the country and the world, according to which Elvino Dias had been murdered after a dispute over a woman in a Malhangalene bar.”
“The threats to the deceased’s family reinforce the idea that the murder has to do with the post-election crisis marked by accusations of electoral fraud”, says the organization.
(AIM)
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