Maputo
The spokesperson for the General Command of the Mozambican police, Pedro Cossa, confirmed on Tuesday that the Attorney-General's Office has arrested a senior officer in the Criminal Investigation Police (PIC) for the brutal murder in 2007 of a suspected criminal named Abranches Penicela.
Relatives of Penicela, and human rights organisations have been fighting for justice in this case for over a year. Cossa said that Alexandre Balate, the heard of search and arrest operations in the Maputo branch of PIC, had been under investigation by prosecutors since last year. He was formally detained last Friday.
Penicela was arrested in 2007 on suspicion of participation in a bank robbery. He was held for a period in the Maputo top security prison, but an investigating magistrate ordered his release on the grounds of lack of evidence.
According to the charge sheet against Balate, cited in Tuesday's issue of the independent weekly "Escorpiao", he had earlier, in February 2007, raided Penicela's house, without any search warrant. During this police raid, Penicela was beaten up and called "a thief, a robber and a dangerous criminal".
After the bank robbery, it was Balate who arrested Penicela (again, without a warrant). He was angered by Penicela's release and with two other PIC agents, named as Moise Matusse and Samuel Bila, plotted to kidnap him.
On 14 August, a trap was set for Penicela. According to the charge sheet, he received a phone call from a certain Octavio who wanted to meet him on the road to Swaziland to discuss a truck being imported from South Africa. But when he arrived at the meeting place, he found himself surrounded by police officers, led by Balate.
The police seized Penicela, tied him up and injected him with a drug that rendered him unconscious. He was then taken to Xinavane, where he was blindfolded, thrown onto the floor and shot. Balate then took a container of petrol purchased by his colleagues, poured it over Penicela (who was still alive) and set it on fire.
The autopsy on Penicela said he had second and third degree burns on 90 per cent of his body, and that the burns were the cause of death, although he had also been shot in the head.
Balate was a careless executioner. For when he set fire to Penicela he also burnt his own arm. He invented a story to explain this injury, claiming that he had burnt his arm while tampering with the radiator of his car.
And, despite his terrible injuries, Penicela did not die in Xinavane. He was rescued and taken to Maputo Central Hospital where he was able, the following day, to make a statement, accusing Balate and other police officers. Shortly afterwards, Penicela died of his injuries, but the CD of his dying statements is attached to the prosecutors' charge sheet.
The charge sheet cited by "Escorpiao" declared that there was "no doubt" that the death of Penicela was "a summary execution". Balate and his companions had thus committed first degree murder, with the aggravating circumstances of premeditation, and the use of torture and acts of cruelty to increase the victim's suffering.
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