19 December 2007
Maputo — The Manica provincial attorney's office in central Mozambique has formalized the detention of three alleged thieves who were almost lynched by an angry mob in the town of Gondola last Saturday.
The three had been arrested by the local police, but the Gondola district attorney, Pombila Xavier, ordered their release on the grounds that the police had insufficient evidence against them.
This infuriated some Gondola residents who marched on the local health centre where the three had been taken for medical treatment. In the subsequent clash between the lynch mob and the police, at least 15 people were injured, the health centre was damaged, and three vehicles, two of them belonging to the police, were destroyed.
According to the spokesperson for the general command of the Mozambican police, Pedro Cossa, the three men accused had been taken to the Gondola police by local residents who accused them of theft. Xavier said there was no evidence, and so they were released.
"Last Friday, there was another robbery and they were taken to the police again", said Cossa. "Again the district attorney found no evidence against them, but the public decided to solve the problem by taking the law into their own hands".
The three were at the health centre, being treated for injuries suffered when angry of the public seized them. When news that they were about to be released for a second time spread, a lynch mob gathered, and the police had to intervene to protect the three.
Cossa denied initial reports that two people had died during this riot. He added that none of those who attacked the health centre had been arrested.
After the riot, the provincial attorney's office became involved, looked at the case file, and overruled Xavier. The provincial chief attorney ordered the re-arrest of the three, and they are now once again in the Gondola police cells.
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I has been happening a lot specially in Beira this last days. The reasons being that the police is accused of being involved in crime. No one trust the police any more...