Mozambican journalists demand an end to ‘impunity’ for crimes against class

Several dozen Mozambican journalists marched this Monday in Maputo against “impunity” for crimes against class. The march culminated in the submission of a petition to the Office of the Attorney General (PGR).

“We have left a petition asking for tough action from the public prosecutor’s office regarding crimes against media workers,” said Jeremias Langa, president of the Institute of Social Communications of South Africa (Misa Moçambique), an NGO that called for the march moments after how the document was presented.

The march was also called to demand clarification on the case of Joao Chamus, a Mozambican journalist and television commentator who died on Thursday at his home in Maputo under circumstances that are still unclear.

“We left another document, which is a criminal statement against unknown persons (…) In fact, we came here to leave an appeal to the prosecutor’s office with a request to fulfill their duties as the holder of a criminal case, to conduct a serious investigation. and this allows us to achieve material truth,” noted Jeremias Langa.

Singing hymns praising freedom of speech and the press, the group, also made up of activists, walked approximately two kilometers from Avenida Vladimir Lenine to PGR, shouting in unison: “Chamusse, your voice will not be silenced,” in tribute to the dead Mozambican journalist.

Joao Chamus, 59, was found dead on Thursday in the backyard of his residence in Nsima, Maputo province, without clothes and with a wound on the back of his head.

On Friday, the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) announced the arrest of a suspect in the murder of Chamousse, a 44-year-old citizen who was a neighbor of the journalist.

A commercial pilot trained at the Lisbon Aviation School, João Chamus was the editorial director of the electronic newspaper Ponto por Ponto and a television commentator with a critical, ironic and sometimes comical approach, especially on domestic political issues. .