The Attorney General’s Office (PGR) announced on Tuesday 4 February that 651 criminal and civil cases were opened during the post-election crisis, promising that all situations that resulted in deaths will receive the attention of the courts.
‘We want to ensure that all situations that resulted in death, bodily harm or destruction of property, arising from the violent demonstrations, will be dealt with properly. The competent procedures will be set in motion to identify the perpetrators, determine the circumstances and other elements for accountability,’ declared Mozambique’s new attorney general, Américo Julião Letela, during the opening of the judicial year.
For more than two months, Mozambique has lived in a climate of social unrest, protests, demonstrations and stoppages, called by Venâncio Mondlane, the former presidential candidate who rejects the 9 October election results.
In addition to the social unrest, more than 1,500 inmates have escaped from prisons in various parts of the country, actions which, according to the police and the Mozambican authorities, are the responsibility of demonstrators.
In this regard, Letela explained that ‘following the escape of inmates from some prisons, which resulted in the death of some of them, eight investigations were launched and are still ongoing.’
The most serious case occurred in Maputo, when 1,534 prisoners escaped following riots at the Central Prison and the Machava Maximum Security Prison on 25 December.
During the rebellion, 35 people died, according to the National Penitentiary Service of Mozambique (Sernap), which also announced the capture of 332 inmates last month.
According to the Decide electoral platform (a non-governmental organisation that monitored the electoral process), at least 315 people died in these protests during the post-election crisis in Mozambique.
