Africa-Press – Mozambique. Mozambican opposition politician Venâncio Mondlane has been charged by the Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office with five crimes, in connection with the post-election demonstrations, including incitement to collective disobedience and instigation of terrorism, he revealed upon leaving the Attorney General’s Office (PGR).
Faced with a heavy police presence, with the PGR headquarters in Maputo closed to both vehicles and pedestrians, and with members of the Public Prosecutor’s Office greeting him at the entrance wearing bulletproof vests, the former presidential candidate explained, after spending 30 minutes inside the PGR premises to receive the notification, that he will go to trial with the support of an “international team” of lawyers, with a “clear conscience”.
“On the contrary, I have provided a great service to this nation. This is the first time in 30 years of democracy that we have managed to take the issue of uncovering and lifting the veil of fraud to the extreme. We have removed the mask of fraud and taken the extreme resistance against a dictatorial regime that maintains itself based on weapons, murders, and kidnappings,” Venâncio Mondlane told reporters.
“I have provided a great service to this country. And not only that. This is the first time since national independence that the Mozambican people have sung the national anthem for a week and felt a sense of patriotism, a sense of belonging to a homeland, a sense of pride in being Mozambican. All of this, for me, constitutes a great service to the country,” he also stated, alluding to the several months of post-election protests in Mozambique.
Traffic on Vladimir Lenine Avenue, in the city’s downtown area and the only access to the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) headquarters, was closed around 9:00 a.m. (minus one hour in Lisbon time) after police deterrents, such as a water cannon, were positioned in the area. Several dozen officers, including from the Rapid Intervention Unit and canine squads, prevented Venâncio Mondlane’s supporters from approaching the PGR office.
Venâncio Mondlane was summoned to the PGR in connection with the post-election protests for the third time today (22-07). The Public Prosecutor’s Office has maintained him under term of Identity and Residency as a coercive measure, according to the politician’s statements upon leaving.
Since the October elections, Mozambique has experienced a climate of intense social unrest, with demonstrations and strikes called by Mondlane, who rejects the election results that gave victory to Daniel Chapo, supported by the ruling Frelimo party, as the fifth President of the Republic.
According to non-governmental organizations monitoring the electoral process, around 400 people lost their lives as a result of clashes with the police, in addition to the destruction of public and private property, looting and violence, conflicts that ceased after meetings between Mondlane and Chapo on March 23 and May 20, aimed at pacifying the country.
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