Maputo — There is no judicial order to imprison fugitive presidential candidate Venancio Mondlane, should he return to Mozambique, according to the President of the Supreme Court, Adelino Muchanga.

Cited on Thursday by the independent television station "TV Successo', Muchanga said "in the Mozambican courts there is no order to imprison Engineer Venancio Mondlane. That means that, if he arrives in Mozambique today, he's naturally a free citizen'.

One of the reasons cited by Mondlane and his supporters for remaining outside the country is that he is the subject of several lawsuits. The Attorney-General's Office (PGR) has accused him of incitement to violence, and crimes against the security of the state.

But these charges do not mean that Mondlane will be thrown into jail as soon as he shows his face in Maputo. Muchanga said that the cases against him are still at the stage of preliminary investigation in the Public Prosecutor's Office.

The public prosecutor cannot jail Mondlane. That order, Muchanga said, will have to be given by a court, and to date there is no such order.

He added that Mondlane can also appeal against the PGR's decision to freeze his bank accounts - but he will have to be in the country to do that.

Asked about the clashes between the police and pro-Mondlane demonstrators, which have so far cost about 120 lives, Muchanga stressed that peaceful demonstrations are protected by the Constitution. But the destruction of property, under cover of demonstrations, is a crime.

Muchanga admitted that there could have been "excesses' in the behaviour of the police.