A court in the southern Mozambican province of Inhambane on Monday sentenced a member of the Rapid Intervention Force (FIR – the Mozambican riot police), Castro Fernando Filipe, to four years imprisonment for the murder of a man named Juliao Macul on 8 November 2007, in the Inhambane district of Massinga.
Filipe’s excuse was that he believed the man he shot was Agostinho Chauque, the most wanted criminal in the country at the time.Macul was staying at a room in the Massinga Sporting Club, when the police burst in and shot him at point blank range.According to the report of the trial in Wednesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, the court found that when Filipe opened fire with his AK-47 assault rifle, his intention was to kill. He was just two metres from Macul when he fired.The presiding judge, Hirondina Pumela, pointed out that Filipe had 20 years experience in the riot police, and so certainly had the skills to neutralize suspects without shooting them dead.At the time, the police tried to recover from this fatal mistake by claiming that Macul was also a criminal. They alleged that Macul was involved in trafficking stolen vehicles between South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique. Certainly the Nissan Hardboard that was in Macul’s possession when he was shot turned out to have been stolen from a building company in South Africa, and Pumela ordered it returned to its legitimate owner. But the penalty for car theft is not death.Macul’s relatives are far from satisfied with the court’s sentence, because it says nothing about any compensation for the family. Macul’s brother, Alberto Welemo, pointed out that, under the Mozambican constitution, the state is responsible for damage caused by the illegal acts of its agents. “The state should compensate the family of the victim, and not merely condemn the culprit”, he said.
Filipe’s excuse was that he believed the man he shot was Agostinho Chauque, the most wanted criminal in the country at the time.Macul was staying at a room in the Massinga Sporting Club, when the police burst in and shot him at point blank range.According to the report of the trial in Wednesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, the court found that when Filipe opened fire with his AK-47 assault rifle, his intention was to kill. He was just two metres from Macul when he fired.The presiding judge, Hirondina Pumela, pointed out that Filipe had 20 years experience in the riot police, and so certainly had the skills to neutralize suspects without shooting them dead.At the time, the police tried to recover from this fatal mistake by claiming that Macul was also a criminal. They alleged that Macul was involved in trafficking stolen vehicles between South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique. Certainly the Nissan Hardboard that was in Macul’s possession when he was shot turned out to have been stolen from a building company in South Africa, and Pumela ordered it returned to its legitimate owner. But the penalty for car theft is not death.Macul’s relatives are far from satisfied with the court’s sentence, because it says nothing about any compensation for the family. Macul’s brother, Alberto Welemo, pointed out that, under the Mozambican constitution, the state is responsible for damage caused by the illegal acts of its agents. “The state should compensate the family of the victim, and not merely condemn the culprit”, he said.
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