Africa-Press – Mozambique. The number of cases pending in Mozambican courts grew 11% in 2020 to 125,141, according to a new bulletin published by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
Although the number of completed cases also increased (by 13%, to 120,973), the pace did not manage to lower the number of pending cases, which has increased since 2018 at least, according to the INE.
The Mozambican justice system also registered an increase in new cases in 2020, up 8% to 133,327. Around 80% of the pending cases are in the Maputo region, and criminal proceedings account for 70% of cases, the remainder being civil proceedings.
The rate of resolution of criminal cases decreased from 56.6% in 2019 to 50.8% in 2020, while the resolution of civil cases rose from 32.7% to 35.1%.
The percentage of people convicted has not changed since 2018, remaining at around a quarter (25%) of the total number of those accused.
The figures are based on the numbers of “cases brought and passing through the courts” from “monthly surveys of the provincial judicial courts”, the INE indicates.
Prison population falls by 6%
The total number of inmates in Mozambican prisons fell by around 6% in 2020 compared to the previous year, according to the INE bulletin.
Mozambique had 25,615 prisoners in 2020, compared to 27,255 in the previous year, of whom 65% were men.
The total number of individuals convicted also dropped, from 11,188 to 8,988.
According to the same bulletin, the number of those detained but not yet convicted stood at 59% of the total number of prisoners in 2019 and the percentage rose to 65% in 2020. The lowest figure for that category – 55% – was recorded in 2018.
The INE publication shows data which date back to 2012, the year in which Mozambique had the largest number of inmates in the sample, amounting to 31,230.
The figures are penitentiary system numbers, based on monthly surveys of the respective establishments, the INE indicates.
