Maputo — Hundreds of friends, colleagues and admirers of murdered Mozambican journalist Carlos Cardoso joined his widow, Nina Berg, in a ceremony an Tuesday evening marking the fifth anniversary of the assassination.
Wreaths were laid at the spot where, on 22 November 2000, Cardoso's car was forced to a halt, and he died in a hail of bullets. The defiant slogan "Cardoso Lives!" is still painted on a nearby wall, while banners declare "No to gangsterism!".
At the ceremony the newly-elected general secretary of the Mozambican Journalists' Union (SNJ), Eduardo Constantino, formally announced the fourth edition of the Carlos Cardoso prize for investigative journalism.
Work published or broadcast in any of the Mozambican media between 1 April 2005 and 31 March 2006 may be submitted for consideration by the five member jury that will allocate the prize.
The prize money is 4,000 euros (about 4,800 US dollars), provided by the Maputo delegation of the European Commission, the Swiss embassy, and the Mozambican chapter of the regional press freedom body MISA (Media Institute of Southern Africa).
The fifth anniversary of the murder fell just days before the retrial is due to begin of Anibal dos Santos Junior ("Anibalzinho"), the man accused of leading the death squad that assassinated Cardoso.
At the first trial, held from November 2002 to January 2003, Anibalzinho was tried in absentia, alongside five other accused.
Described by judge Augusto Paulino as "an habitual delinquent", he was sentenced to 28 years and six months imprisonment.
The second trial is necessary because the Supreme Court accepted an appeal from Anibalzinho's layer, Simeao Cuamba, who argued that his client, recaptured after escaping from the Maputo top security jail, was entitled to a new trial in which he would be physically present. The Maputo City Court has set 1 December as the date on which the retrial will begin.
Ironically, Anibalzinho has subsequently dispensed with Cuamba's services. The outcome of the trial is hardly in doubt, since the other two members of the death squad, the lookout, Manuel Fernandes, and the man who pulled the trigger, Carlitos Rashid, both made full confessions implicating Anibalzinho as the person who recruited them and drove the car.
The main interest in the trial is thus on what, if anything, Anibalzinho might say about who ordered the crime. The business brothers Ayob and Momade Assif ("Nini") Abdul Satar, and former bank manager Vicente Ramaya, were found guilty in January 2003 of ordering the murder. The prosecution successfully argued that their motive was Cardoso's persistent investigation into a 14 million dollar bank fraud involving Ramaya and the Satar family.
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But while admitting that he paid Anibalzinho the equivalent of 46,000 dollars, Nini Satar said in court that he did so at the behest of businessman Nyimpine Chissano, oldest son of the then president Joaquim Chissano. Satar claimed he did not know the money was for a contract killing.
A second case file on the murder was opened, in which Nyimpine Chissano is one of the suspects, but although prosecutors have been dealing with the matter for almost three years they have yet either to press charges against Chissano or to dismiss the case.
But those who expect the Anibalzinho retrial to produce sensational new revelations may be in for a disappointment.
First, accused persons are under no obligation to testify: Anibalzinho would be within his rights to remain silent.
Second, there is no guarantee that he would tell the truth.
One of the quirks of the Mozambican legal system is that accused persons cannot commit perjury. If they choose to answer a court's questions, they are not on oath, and can say whatever they like without fear of punishment.
