Maputo — Mozambique's National Human Rights Commission (CNDH) has set up a working commission in order to investigate the violation of human rights and the murder of some inmates who escaped from the Maputo Central prison and the adjacent Top Security prison in the Christmas Day riot.

In a statement, the CNDH claims that its working commission has already visited the two prisons in order to obtain more details about the case and encourage the Attorney General's Office (PGR) to investigate and hold the perpetrators accountable.

"The CNDH strongly condemns the cruel, degrading and inhumane treatment of prisoners as contrary to the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Mozambican Constitution and other international instruments and ordinary laws', reads the document.

According to the CND, the Mozambican state must guarantee the integrity, physical and moral safety of the prisoners, who are in its custody.

"At this difficult time for the country, the CNDH stands in solidarity with the families of the prisoners who lost their lives', says the note.

The CNDH also expressed its solidarity with the families of those who lost their lives as a result of a fire inside a shop in the George Dimitrov neighbourhood, on the outskirts of Maputo city.

"The CNDH has followed with concern the serious situations of human rights violations that occurred during the Christmas and end-of-year festive season. There were deaths of citizens in commercial establishments under various circumstances, where citizens were burnt to death by alleged arson and the destruction of various public and private properties in Maputo City and Province', reads the note.

During the mass prison breakouts, 1,534 inmates escaped from the two jails. By the beginning of January, only 322 had been recaptured. Video evidence indicates that some of those recaptured were tortured and murdered.