Maputo — The prosecution in the Carlos Cardoso murder case on Monday demanded the maximum sentence for the six people charged with the November 2000 assassination of Mozambique's top investigative journalist.
Giving his summing up, public prosecutor Mourao Baluce said that the guilt of all six men had been proven during the trial, which began before the Maputo City Court on 18 November. He was thus demanding the maximum sentence for first degree murder (a 24 year jail term) not only for the three members of the death squad - Carlitos Rashid Cassamo, Manuel Fernandes, and the fugitive Anibal dos Santos Junior ("Anibalzinho") - but also for the three men charged with ordering the killing, Ayob Abdul Satar, owner of the Unicambios foreign exchange bureau, his brother, the notorious loan shark Momade Assife Abdul Satar ("Nini"), and former bank manager Vicente Ramaya.
Baluce said that the murder had been plotted in a series of conspiratorial meetings in a room at the Rovuma Hotel, as from July 2000. Anibalzinho, Nini Satar, Ayob Satar and Ramaya all took part in one or more of those meetings.
Baluce argued that the initial purpose of the meetings was to assess why the November 1999 attempt on the life of Albano Silva, the lawyer for what was then the country's largest bank, the BCM, had failed, and to plot a further assassination attempt.
But the plan to murder Silva was shelved, in favour of eliminating Cardoso first.
The motive cited by Baluce was the 1996 fraud, in which 144 billion meticais (14 million US dollars at the exchange rate of the time) was stolen from the BCM. The fraud took place at Ramaya's BCM branch, using fraudulent accounts opened in the names of members of the Abdul Satar family.
Silva had been pursuing this case relentlessly, and Cardoso had been writing about it. "Carlos Cardoso was a serious, incorruptible, investigative journalist who would not allow the BCM case to be forgotten", said Baluce. "His work inconvenienced the criminals." Cardoso was the main problem for those who defrauded the bank - for they could be sure that, if they murdered Silva first, then Cardoso would not rest until they had been brought to justice. Baluce pointed out that the difference between the activities of a lawyer and of a journalist ensured that "Carlos Cardoso's work came to the work of many more people than those aware of Albano Silva's procedural battles".
The Satars and Ramaya had attempted to present themselves as legitimate businessmen, but Cardoso "exposed the false nature of this public image".
The major problem for the prosecution has been that a key witness, Osvaldo Muianga ("Dudu"), who claims to have been present at the Rovuma meetings, has changed his story several times. The defence has tried to discredit him, and claims that the meetings are a figment of his imagination.
Baluce argued that the instability of Muianga's story was due to the pressures put upon him and his family by some of the defendants and their relatives. Throughout the trial, the court has heard of how the Satar family threatened, cajoled and bribed witnesses. These tactics were successful, in that Muianga's mother, Fatima Razaco, persuaded him to retract his original statements in February 2002. But later in the year, he retracted the retraction.
A final version, told on the witness stand, was that the Rovuma meetings had taken place, but had solely discussed murdering Albano Silva, and had not mentioned Cardoso.
Baluce argued that Muianga had been telling the truth in his initial statement. He noted that the defence made much of the fact that Muianga claimed the meetings had happened in rooms 105 or 106 - when there are no rooms with those numbers in the Rovuma.
He pointed out that "initially Dudu said he didn't know the room numbers. Only after pressure did he mention numbers 105 and 106. He probably took the lift to the bar, and then went into a room on the first floor after the bar".
As for the defence's objection to Muianga, and to several other witnesses, because they have been charged with other crimes, Baluce remarked "the same can be said of the defendants".
He noted that Ramaya's wife and the sisters of Ayob and Nini Satar were among those who had tried to bribe witnesses. "Can innocence be purchased ?", he asked. "Innocent people cooperate with the court, and do not lie. Innocent people do not need to spend vast sums of money to buy their innocence".
Baluce warned that, if the defendants are allowed to go free, "they will continue their criminal activities:. He demanded "exemplary punishment", with a sentence "to the maximum limits envisaged by the law".
