Africa-Press – Mozambique. The Maputo City Judicial Court has given former presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, who led the challenge to the results of the October elections, 20 days to present his defence in the case brought by the Mozambican state, according to an announcement published today in the press.
The announcement states that the case, without providing details of its content, is being heard in the ninth section of that court and that Venâncio Mondlane, if he so wishes, may present his defence “in the declaratory action for conviction, in the form of ordinary common proceedings”, brought by the Mozambican state, through the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
In a message also posted today on the social network Facebook, with a copy of the same public notice, Venâncio Mondlane called it “persecution”, without further comment.
Lusa reported in November last year that the Mozambican Public Prosecutor’s Office was demanding compensation of €445,000 for the damage caused by the demonstrations of the previous weeks – which worsened significantly in the following months – in the city of Maputo alone, in a civil action against Venâncio Mondlane and Podemos, the party that supported his presidential candidacy in the elections of October 9.
According to internal information from the Attorney General’s Office, to which Lusa had access, this action was filed by the Public Prosecutor’s Office representative at the Judicial Court of the City of Maputo, but others of the same kind followed, particularly in the province of Maputo.
“Despite warnings and summons issued by the Public Prosecutor’s Office, the co-defendants [Venâncio Mondlane and Albino Forquilha, president of Podemos] continued to call for mass participation by citizens in the aforementioned protest movements, inciting them to anger and the paralysis of all activities in the country,” the same communique reads.
It adds that “for this reason, there can be no doubt about the civil liability of the defendants, as instigators, insofar as their statements were decisive in verifying the results now in crisis, especially damage to the State’s assets”.
It also states that “even while observing social disorder and the destruction of public and private property, they continued to instigate protest movements and announce the practice of more severe acts against the Mozambican State”, demanding in this civil action, in Maputo, from the co-defendants Venâncio Mondlane and the Optimist Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos) compensation of 32,377,276.46 meticais (€445,000 at current exchange rates).
On March 11, the Attorney General’s Office (PGR) of Mozambique applied the coercive measure of revoking Venâncio Mondlane’s identity and residence, in a case in which the Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses the politician of inciting violence in the post-election demonstrations.
“A [coercive] measure of sanction and limitation was applied to me. This means that I cannot travel without notifying the Prosecutor’s Office, and I cannot stay away from my home for more than five days,” the Mozambican politician explained as he left the PGR premises.
Venâncio Mondlane said that he had been heard by the PGR for more than ten hours about one of the eight cases in which he is being targeted in the context of the post-election protests and social unrest in Mozambique.
Mondlane led the largest challenge to the election results in Mozambique since the first multiparty elections (1994), and moved forward with the formation of the National Alliance for a Free and Autonomous Mozambique (Anamalala) party on April 3 of this year, as per the application submitted to the Ministry of Justice.
After several months of social unrest and demonstrations contesting the election results – victory for Daniel Chapo and the Mozambique Liberation Front (Frelimo, in power since 1975) -, which led to looting, destruction of public and private property, and around 400 deaths, the head of state and Venâncio Mondlane met for the first time on March 23, in Maputo, and agreed to pacify the country, a meeting that was repeated on May 20.
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