The opposition party garners most of its support in the north and centre of the country - its candidate Afonso Dhlakama took 36% of the presidential vote in October.
This evening hundreds of people laid flowers and lit candles at the spot where, a few hours earlier, one of Mozambique's most prominent constitutional lawyers, Gilles Cistac, was assassinated. Assassinated in broad daylight in one of the busiest avenues in the middle of the capital city!
My story from this afternoon on the shocking murder in central Maputo of constitutional lawyer Gilles Cistac.
10315E GILLES CISTAC DIES OF HIS WOUNDS
Maputo, 3 Mar (AIM) – One of Mozambique’s most prominent constitutional lawyers, Gilles Cistac, shot by unknown assailants in central Maputo on Tuesday morning, died of his wounds in Maputo Central Hospital at about 13.20.
Doctors operated on Cistac, but proved unable to save his life. He had been hit by at least three bullets. According to hospital director Joao Fumane, he had suffered severe injuries to the thorax and abdomen.
Cistac was shot at about 08.30. He had been taking his habitual morning coffee at a snack bar on Eduardo Mondlane Avenue, a busy thoroughfare in the centre of the city. He called for a taxi to take him to the Administrative Tribunal (the body responsible for checking the legality of state expenditure) where he planned to work.
As he got into the taxi, another vehicle drew up with four men inside. Eye-witnesses described them as three black men and one white man. The latter opened fire on Cistac at point blank range.
Cistac managed to crawl out of the cab, and collapsed on the street. Some of the bystanders realized he was still breathing and rushed him to the hospital.
When the news of the attack against Cistac reached President Filipe Nyusi, he interrupted the weekly meeting of the Council of Ministers (Cabinet) that he was chairing, in order to discuss the shooting and the government’s reaction.
Presidential spokesperson Antonio Gaspar told reporters that Nyusi had given instructions to the Ministry of the Interior to hunt down and arrest the criminals as quickly as possible. He described the shooting as “a macabre act, which the government condemns vehemently”. Once the assailants were caught. Gaspar added, they should be given “an exemplary punishment”.
Shocked academics, lawyers, journalists and human rights activists gathered outside the hospital hoping to hear news that the doctors had succeeded and Cistac had survived. Some four hours later those hopes were dashed.
The motive for the assassination is not known, but it is generally being connected to the libelous and hate-filled campaign against Cistac waged in social media. Cistac came under fire because he argued that the Constitution would allow the creation of the “autonomous provinces” called for by Afonso Dhlakama, leader of the former rebel movement Renamo.
He also said there were no grounds under the constitution for Renamo members of parliament losing their seats if they did not take them within 30 days of the opening of parliament. In this he was far from alone – Teodato Hunguana, a leading jurist in the ruling Frelimo Party, and a former judge on the Constitutional Council, agreed with Cistac that elected deputies could not be kicked out of parliament merely because they had not taken the oath of office.
Cistac’s constitutional arguments clearly irritated some people – one contributor to Facebook, calling himself “Calado Calachnicov”, even called Cistac a “French spy”. His venomous ravings were openly racist, linking Cistac with “a group of discontented whites”, including senior journalists and economists, who were allegedly conspiring with US ambassador Douglas Griffiths in order to “divide and rule” Mozambique.
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Rule of law vs arbitrary rule. Monday's sombre speech by Tomas Timbana, chairperson of the Mozambican Bar association, at the start of the 2015 judicial year, sounds a prescient warning in the light of today's assassination of lawyer Gilles Cistac
9315E POLICE “ARE THE WEAKEST LINK”
Maputo, 3 Mar (AIM) – The Mozambican police is “one of the weakest links in our State”, the chairperson of the Mozambican Bar Association (OAM), Tomas Timbana, accused on Monday.
Speaking at the ceremony marking the opening of the 2015 judicial year, he said “we see police detaining citizens without any kind of evidence, we see detainees who have clearly suffered violence, we see police continuing to arrest people without any warrants”.
Timbana also attacked the habit of the police of exhibiting detainees in front of the media. He regarded this as a denial of the presumption of innocence, and as “a spectacle the purpose of which cannot be to obtain justice”.
He denounced the notorious corruption in the traffic police, and argued that it contributes to an increase in the number of traffic accidents.
The alternative to the rule of law, said Timbana, is arbitrary rule, and “if we do not want arbitrary rule, then reforming the police force is urgent”.
In particular, the Criminal Investigation Police (PIC) needed, not only more resources, but also “more autonomy, more authority and more responsibility”. He wanted to end the system whereby PIC is subordinate both to the Interior Ministry and to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, since this was a recipe for inter-institutional conflict.
Timbana noted there had been cases when the police arrest a suspect, a magistrate orders his release “and the police refuse to comply, in a clear sign of insubordination and lack of coordination”.
He warned that “arbitrary rule creates first class and second class citizens. Arbitrary rule creates one law for political leaders and another law for citizens. Arbitrary rule creates one law for the ruling party and another law for opposition parties. Arbitrary rule confers the right of association on some Mozambicans while denying the same right to others”.
“Arbitrary rule”, Timbana continued, “sees our differences as a danger to national unity, a national unity defined from a single point of view. It ignores the fact that, although we are different, we are equal before the law and deserve the same treatment”.
The alternative to arbitrary behaviour was the rule of law, and while the rule of law could not prevent tragedies such as the floods which have devastated parts of central and northern Mozambique, or the mass poisoning that occurred in the town of Chitima in January, “it can guarantee that those who have the task of looking after the physical integrity and health of the people are held responsible when they neglect their duties”.
Arbitrary rule, however, was the enemy of responsibility. “The culture of holding people responsible for their acts is an important corner stone for the construction of a better Mozambique”, said Timbana.
He warned that an arbitrary system “creates the space for the political class to act without the limits imposed by the rule of law or by fear of the reaction of those damaged by its behaviour. When that is the situation, this political class, regardless of its party, will steal, will act against the dignity of others, and will work tirelessly to consolidate its power”.
(AIM)
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Gilles Cistac had worked as an adviser to several government ministries
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