Maputo, 14 Mar (AIM) – Gloria Nobre, the treasurer of Mozambique’s former presidential candidate, Venancio Mondlane, remains illegally detained in a Maputo police station, without access to members of her family, or to a lawyer, according to a report in Friday’s issue of the independent newsheet “Mediafax”.
Nobre was detained on Wednesday, without any arrest warrant, and she is believed to be in police custody in the eighth precinct, located in Maputo port.
According to Mondlane, the 59 year old Nobre was detained by plain clothes police officers in the inner Maputo neighbourhood of Alto Mae at around midday. They had no warrant, but showed her a document on one of their cellphones.
Nobre was seized, in the company of her daughter, Alina, after a visit to the cemetery to lay a wreath on the grave of her sister. Alina told reporters she did not know the content of the document the police had shown to her mother.
Alina was concerned, not only because she had been given no reason for the detention, but also because her mother is in poor health.
“My mother suffers from high blood pressure and from asthma. I need to know how she is”, said Alina
The Nobre family lawyer attempted to visit Gloria, but the police illegally denied him entry. The Centre for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD) appointed three lawyers to assist Nobre. The police did not allow any of them to see her.
The CDD promised to lay a complaint with the Attorney-General’s Office (PGR), protesting at the denial of Nobre’s right to legal assistance.
Agents of the Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic), speaking on condition of anonymity, told CDD that neither her family nor her lawyers could have access to her for 48 hours because she was “under investigation”.
(AIM)
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