Mozambican Police commander sentenced for detaining reporter

A local police commander in the northern Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado was sentenced to six-month imprisonment after having been found guilty of illegally detaining a journalist. At the trial in the Cabo Delgado provincial court, sitting in Pemba, the police commander, Severino Charles, admitted to the court that the detention of reporter Fernando Quinova in October 1998 was illegal. He said he was "under pressure" from other policemen who were indignant at Quinova's story about the death in detention of an alleged thief.

However, Charles will not have to spend any time in prison because, under Mozambican law, his jail sentence can be converted into a fine at the rate of 3,000 meticais a day. This is a total fine of 546,000 meticais (about 44 US dollars). In addition, Charles must pay 400,000 meticais in legal costs, and was ordered to pay three million meticais (240 dollars) in compensation to Quinova.

Unblemished record

In handing the sentence on May 31, the judge said he had taken into account extenuating circumstances, such as Charles' previously unblemished record, and the fact that he had confessed to the crime. Charles also admitted it was possible that one policeman had indeed contributed to the death in detention of the alleged suspect. On the provincial attorney's instructions, this man (whose name was not released) has been charged with homicide, and is awaiting trial.

Quinova, who works for the publicly-owned Mass Communication Centre (ICS) in the Cabo Delgado district of Chiure, was arrested on October 30 1998 shortly after Radio Mozambique ran his story about the death of the alleged thief in police custody. He was held in the Chiure police cells without charge for 23 days but managed to escape and walked through the bush for two weeks until he reached the provincial capital, Pemba.

He and the local ICS delegate, Luisa Lourenco, then complained to the provincial police command, who admitted that the Chiure police had behaved illegally and promised an inquiry. Despite this, Quinova was re-arrested on February 15 when he returned to Chiure. He was then charged with slandering the police, and "leaking information". However, neither of the charges against Quinova existed in the Mozambican legal order.Quinova was released from detention on March.