A Mozambican court on Thursday handed jail terms of 24 years to three elite police officers and 23 years to another for the murder of a poll observer ahead of national elections in October.
Prosecutors last month had requested a “exemplary” and “severe” punishment for the four, accused of gunning down Anastacio Matavele, 58, behind the wheel of his car in the southern city of Xai-Xai.Two of their colleagues received lesser sentences of two and three years, each.The killers were caught red-handed after colliding into another car as they fled the scene, allowing police to link the murder to Mozambique’s elite rapid intervention unit.
“There is no doubt that the defendants’ intention was to kill,” prosecutor Leonardo Cumbe said last month during the hearing.The defendants were charged with voluntary homicide, conspiracy, forgery and illegal use of firearms. The trial was unprecedented in a country where murders and abductions of members of civil society, opposition politicians and journalists have become routine since 2015 but are typically sidelined for lack of evidence.
“The masterminds are drinking cold beer at home. The big crooks and the state are off the hook,” he tweeted.
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