Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Superior Council of the Judiciary confirmed, this Friday, 6, the release of the two defendants in the process regarding the murder of Zenira Gomes, which took place in July 2021. Both were prohibited from leaving the country, had their passports confiscated and were subject to the periodic presentation in the Judiciary Police.
The defendants, as recalled by the CSMJ, had been held in custody since August 17, 2021, and the charge was filed on February 16, 2022.
However, the defense requested the nullity of the process, claiming that the defendant of US nationality does not speak Portuguese, since he was born, raised and lived, until then, in the United States.
According to Cape Verdean law, with reference to the Constitution of the Republic and the Code of Criminal Procedure, “the accused who does not master the language of the Court has the right to the assistance of an interpreter, and, implicitly, the right to be notified of the accusation in a language he speaks.”
Therefore, as explained by the CSMJ, “the violation of the obligation to appoint an interpreter and/or translation of the accusation in a language that the defendant is fluent in” was observed, and declares the nullity of the process.
Pretrial detention expired
“Once the notification of the public accusation filed against the defendant was declared void, and the period of six months having elapsed since his arrest, the coercive measure of preventive detention was extinguished due to the expiry of the period, which is why the sentence was decreed. immediate release of the accused”, explains the same source.
Instead of preventive detention, the defendants were banned from leaving the country, with their passports seized.
Both were still under the obligation to report weekly to the Judiciary Police, which did not happen, with the defendant Djonny, as it seems, fled the country.
For More News And Analysis About Cape verde Follow Africa-Press
