Africa-Press – Mozambique. Dozens of Mozambican lawyers marched today to the scene of the murder of Elvino Dias, the “people’s lawyer”, and where Paulo Guambe, another supporter of then-presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, also died, demanding justice and challenging the “bipolarization” of society.
“There is unacceptable procedural slowness,” said Carlos Martins, president of the Mozambican Bar Association (OAM), as he laid a wreath at the scene of the double homicide on Joaquim Chissano Avenue in the centre of Maputo. The crime occurred on the night of 18-19 October, 2024, just days after the general elections, and remains unsolved.
“The OAM is part of the justice administration system. Therefore, this attack wasn’t just against the legal profession, it was against all the pillars of the justice administration. Therefore, we must do more to ensure this case is effectively clarified,” urged Carlos Martins, who, along with dozens of other lawyers, marched from the institution’s headquarters to the crime scene around 8:30 a.m..
“We believe. It’s still a year ago, it’s a long time, but we believe. We do believe that justice will be served. There are other crimes that have not been solved to this day. We know of several crimes that have been committed in society, and we are concerned because there is an authoritarianism that has taken over society itself,” warned the Bar Association president.
Exactly one year ago, the crime sparked popular protests against the electoral process, which continued, amid violence and with around 400 deaths, for more than five months.
Elvino Dias, known in Mozambique as the “people’s lawyer” for his social causes and the support he provided, especially to the most disadvantaged, died in an ambush, an unexplained crime that has since been alleged to have had political motivations.
At the time, Dias, Venâncio Mondlane’s legal advisor, and the car he was driving in central Maputo, was intercepted by two patrol cars. Two armed men emerged and fired dozens of shots, fatally striking Elvino Dias, 45, and Paulo Guambe, a leader at Podemos, the party that supported the former presidential candidate in the elections a year ago.
“Bipolarization doesn’t help either. You’re either against or in opposition. We must demystify this and encourage people to believe that we can have a plural society, a society where differences of opinion do not pose a threat,” the Bar Association president said, insisting that the OAM only wished to show society “that it is possible to coexist with different ideas”.
“Differences only strengthen us, and cannot divide us,” Martins said.
He recalled that the Bar Association and lawyers in general have a “responsibility” to “defend” the rule of law, the Constitution, democracy, fundamental rights, and the institutions which they guarantee to continue to uphold.
“Whenever institutions fail, a vacuum is created. Therefore, we must not let institutions fail in this case, too. The people who committed this gruesome murder must be found and held accountable. But we must also prevent situations like this from happening again within our profession,” Martins reiterated.
“Today is a sad day for the profession; it is a day when we must honour this fighter, because he fought not only for himself, but for the profession. But, above all, he fought for society,” Martins noted.
Mozambican police told Lusa on Friday that they were still investigating the double homicide of Elvino Dias and Paulo Guambe, without providing further information for ‘security reasons’.
“Work is being done to clarify the case,” João Adriano, spokesperson for the National Criminal Investigation Service (Sernic) in Maputo, told Lusa.
Adriano assured that “the investigation is not at the same stage,” however, given the nature of the crime and its investigation, when it was not safe to release any details: “It is an extremely sensitive and complex case, but work is being done to clarify what happened,” he concluded.
On 23 December, 2024, two-and-a-half months after the 9 October general elections, the Constitutional Council declared Daniel Chapo the winner of the presidential election, with 65.17% of the votes, followed by Venâncio Mondlane, who received 24%, but has never acknowledged the results.
The Decide electoral platform, a civil society organization that monitors electoral processes, reported in April that at least 800 were shot in the about five months of post-election protests, and 388 people died, more than 90% of whom were killed “by gunfire using live ammunition”.
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