Amnesty International Report 1998 - Mozambique

(This report covers the period January-December 1997) There were dozens of reports of torture of criminal suspects and witnesses by police. One person died in custody, apparently as a result of torture. Four policemen were convicted of torturing prisoners. Two people reportedly "disappeared" and one person was apparently extrajudicially executed in police custody. Mozambique enjoyed its fifth year of peace but the government, led by President Joaquim Chissano, still faced problems caused by the war. Several large caches of weapons and ammunition were unearthed but large quantities were believed to be still in criminal hands. Land-mine clearance continued, but it was estimated that about one million remained undiscovered. In February the government banned the use, production and transfer of anti-personnel land-mines. Despite improvements in the economy, poverty and high levels of crime persisted. In January the Interior Minister, appointed in late 1996, announced new measures to control crime, including the opening of police stations closed down during the war. A project to restructure the police, using the Spanish Guardia Civil as a model, and to retrain police was agreed in June In May and June the main opposition political party, Resistência Nacional Moçambicana (renamo), Mozambique National Resistance, formerly the armed opposition movement, organized a series of demonstrations, some involving acts of violence, against the high cost of living. At least 60 people were detained for a few days and 14 were convicted in September of orga-nizing illegal demonstrations. Their two-year prison sentences were suspended. A policeman was given a one-year prison sentence in December for firing the shot which killed Spanish aid worker Inmaculada Vieira in November 1996. Friends of the deceased who had initiated a private prosecution had to engage a new lawyer after their first legal counsel complained of receiving threats Prisons remained overcrowded although some efforts were made to improve conditions. For example, in Gaza Province prisoners who had been detained for longer than the law allowed were released on bail. Professor E.V.O. Dankwa, Special Rapporteur on prisons and conditions of detention in Africa of the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights visited Mozambique in December. The report of his visit had not been published by the end of the year. A law on compulsory military service for men aged between 18 and 35 was passed in November. There was no provision allowing for conscientious objection. In April Mozambique acceded to the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women. Dozens of people were reportedly tortured in police custody. In January police arrested Alice Luís on suspicion of prostitution and drug offences. Police beat her as they escorted her in handcuffs to the 4th Police Station in Maputo, the capital, and they beat and whipped her in the cell before releasing her in the early hours of the following morning. Two minors, Abdul Bernardo and Abubacar Tauzene, were severely beaten in a Maputo police station in February. They had been arrested for failing to supply proof of their identity and were released the next day, after inquiries had been made by the Liga Moçambicana dos Direitos Humanos (lmdh), Mozambique Human Rights League. Maria José Camacho was severely beaten by police in Maputo in March. A neighbour had accused her of building a wall across a road; four policemen, acting without any judicial authority, arrived at her house and began to destroy the wall. When she protested, they handcuffed her and beat her until she fainted. The police took her to hospital but did not let her daughter accompany her. Three people suspected of stealing car spares were tortured at the Esquadra da Liberdade police station in Matola, Maputo, in June. They were beaten with the tail of a ray fish, which tore their flesh with its serrated edge. In August Intepa Faque died in a police cell in Nacala-Porto, Nampula Province. He and other members of his family had been arrested and beaten after one of them was accused of stealing a video machine. Police then reportedly thrust a stick down Intepa Faque's throat, causing severe bleeding. He died two hours later. There was an investigation but at the end of the year none of those responsible had been brought to justice Four policemen each received seven-year prison sentences in January for torturing Franque Luís Tchembene in 1996. The victim died as a result of the torture (see Amnesty International Report 1997). One of the defendants continued to fulfil police functions pending the result of his appeal. The trial of police accused of torturing 19-year-old triplets in 1995 (see Amnesty International Report 1997) was scheduled for 1998. Two people apparently "disappeared". Issufo Aly and Carlos Cossa were detained in June and accused of stealing a motorbike. Issufo Aly's wife said that a week later four members of the Criminal Investigation Police brought him home in handcuffs at midnight and demanded a sum of money, which she gave them in the belief that it might save her husband's life. During the following 10 days, his wife tried to see him but was not given permission to do so. Nearly three weeks after his arrest, members of the lmdh made inquiries about the two men and were told that they had died in a traffic accident. The police subsequently told the press that they had escaped from a police vehicle which had been taking them to court. By the end of the year the lmdh had not received a detailed explanation of what happened to the two men In October Crescêncio Sergio Muchanga was reportedly shot dead by police who had earlier tortured him. He had been detained in the 1st Police Station in Matola in connection with the theft of a government vehicle, along with about 14 other people, including women and children. At least five of the detainees were severely beaten and at least two of them were taken at night to the banks of the Matola River where they were buried up to the neck in sand and had shots fired near their heads. In addition, Crescêncio Sergio Muchanga was dragged behind a moving vehicle by a rope attached to his wrists. He was still alive when police returned him to the 1st Police Station. Representatives of the lmdh subsequently saw his body in the morgue, bearing what appeared to be bullet holes in the neck and chest The fate and whereabouts of Abdul Mota, who "disappeared" in police custody in 1996 (see Amnesty International Report 1997), remained unknown Amnesty International expressed concern about cases of torture and the "disappearance" of detainees in police custody. It welcomed the bringing to justice of the police officers responsible for the torture and death of Franque Luís Tchembene. Amnesty International called on the government to ensure that police training programs included thorough training in the protection of human rights. It received no response from the government.