30 April 2008
Maputo — The Mozambican police on Wednesday seized two Nokia mobile phones that had been smuggled into the cell, in the Maputo City Police Command, where the country's most notorious assassin, Anibal dos Santos Junior ("Anibalzinho"), is incarcerated.
Anibalzinho is serving a 30 year sentence for his part in the murder, in November 2000, of Mozambique's foremost investigative journalist, Carlos Cardoso. Currently he is on trial, along with five others, for the attempted murder in 1999 of prominent lawyer Albano Silva.
At the end of Wednesday's session in the trial, judge Dimas Marroa of the Maputo City Court announced that the police had informed him that two mobile phones, complete with batteries and chargers, had been found hidden in a bag of sugar in Anibalzinho's cell.
Marroa noted that earlier in the trial Anibalzinho had been complaining that his rights were being violated and that there was a police plot afoot to take his life.
In particular, Anibalzinho had vociferously alleged that he was being deprived of his right to food. The police guards had decided that he could no longer receive food sent from his family.
Although the police had explained to Marroa that this decision was taken because hacksaws and other escape equipment had been found in the food parcels, the judge, under pressure from Anibalzinho's lawyer, Simeao Cuamba, relented and allowed a resumption of food parcels from his home.
But no sooner is the food regime relaxed, than forbidden items are smuggled into the assassin's cell.
"I'm not going to make any appeals to Anibalzinho", said Marroa. "He's an adult and he knows what he's doing".
Anibalzinho demanded the microphone in an attempt to reply to the judge, but Marroa cut him short. "I haven't authorized you to speak", he said. "I don't need any explanations".
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