1 March 2008
Maputo — Mozambique's Supreme Court on Friday warned that when people take the law into their own hands and lynch suspected criminals, the result could be "a spiral of violence of unpredictable consequences".
In a statement signed by its president, Mario Mangaze, the Supreme Court declared that lynching, regardless of its causes, is an assault against society. Such acts of violence, it pointed out, were an onslaught against fundamental rights enshrined in the Mozambican constitution, such as the right to life and to physical integrity.
The Court appealed to all forces in Mozambican society, including political and religious leaders, and civil society organizations to carry out civic education activities to halt the current wave of lynchings and attempted lynchings. It also urged the mass media to help mobilise communities for the defence of "the climate of peace and concord necessary for the country's economic and social development'.
The Supreme Court praised the police for its efforts to avoid any further deaths at the hands of lynch mobs.
In recent months, there has been a wave of incidents in which alleged thieves have been caught, and put to death on the spot by angry crowds. The excuse usually given for such summary justice is that the police are ineffective, and either do not catch the criminals or let them go.
The worst incidents occurred last weekend in the central city of Chimoio, when angry mobs killed five supposed thieves, and then fought a running battle against the police who refused to hand over a further 20 alleged criminals who would have been treated in the same way.
Killings are continuing in Chimoio. According to television reports a further two people were lynched in Chimoio on Friday.
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