A man given a four month suspended prison sentence for supposedly defaming the administrator of the northern Mozambican district of Muecate now finds that he will have to sell his house in order to pay his legal costs and damages to the administrator, reports Monday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".
The entire case was illegal from beginning to end. The victim, mechanic Aiuba Assane, was accused of suggesting publicly that the administrator, Adelino Fabrica, was unpopular in the district and ought to be transferred.
He was arrested on the basis of anonymous denunciations and thrown into jail (even though preventive detention should not be used in defamation cases). He was imprisoned from 22 January to 16 February, when the case came to trial.
Assane never admitted saying the allegedly defamatory words, yet the prosecution produced no witnesses, and the court found him guilty entirely on the basis of anonymous statements.
Assane was represented by an official defender from the Legal Aid Institute (IPAJ), Mariano Braimo, since he could not afford to hire a lawyer.
Braimo told "Noticias" that the court proceedings seemed more like a session of the district government than a trial, since Fabrica appeared to be in complete control. He asked Fabrica to produce witnesses or some other form of proof to back up the claim that Assane had defamed him.
He refused to do so, and the court claimed that, since Fabrica, is a public figure, he did not need to produce witnesses.
The court gave its verdict on 12 March. Not only does Assane have a five month prison sentence hanging over him, but he must now find 1,500 meticais to pay damages to Fabrica, and 3,500 meticais in legal costs. This is equivalent to 171 US dollars - but Assane has no money.
Court officials told "Noticias" that, if he does not pay up, he will go to jail. Since the sentence, Assane has been unable to work since he has fallen ill, apparently with malaria. He thus missed the deadline of 22 March for paying the legal costs.
So he has put his house, a simple hut, on the market, asking 10,000 meticais for it. So far nobody has bought it. Assane has warned his wife that, if the house is sold, they and their two children may have to sleep in the open.
Although this scandalous story has been reported prominently in the Mozambican press there has been no public reaction so far from any government body, or from the Attorney-General's Office which is supposed to safeguard legality and prevent such flagrant abuses.
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