CARDOSO MURDER:
JUDGE REFUTES LAWYERS

Maputo, 16 Nov (AIM) - Augusto Paulino, the judge in the case of the murder of Mozambique's best-known journalist, Carlos Cardoso, has publicly refuted all the arguments used by the lawyers for the six accused, who are demanding that the venue for next week's trial be changed.

The lawyers, Domingos Arouca, Simiao Cuamba, Abdul Gani, Eduardo Jorge and Samuel Valentim, had sent the judge a formal request on Friday morning, arguing that it is illegal to hold the trial on the premises of the Maputo top security prison (commonly known as the B.O.), where their clients are currently incarcerated.

They had expressed fears that the trial would be held in secret, and warned the judge that the Constitution expressly forbids "the creation of courts exclusively intended to judge certain categories of crime".

Judge Paulino's reply, received by AIM on Saturday, is that "at no time has this court expressed an intention to restrict the public nature of the trial, since there is nothing to justify such restrictions. The trial in the B.O. will be public".

Nor was there any question of creating some anti- constitutional special court. "The case is being heard by the 10th section of the Maputo city court, and the judges dealing with the case are all from this court", Paulino said. "This section has been dealing with many other cases, from the simplest to the most complicated."

The lawyers also complained that the prison does not fall within the area of jurisdiction of the Maputo city court, since the B.O happens to be in Machava, which is a suburb of the adjoining city of Matola.

Paulino easily dismissed this claim. "The question of the territorial competence of the court cannot be posed", he said. "The crime was committed in the territory of Maputo city, and the court that will judge it is the Maputo City Court".

The court was empowered to hold the trial anywhere in the country, which it believed offered "the conditions for judging in tranquillity", he said.

Furthermore, much of the earlier investigation undertaken by the court, notably interrogation of the accused, had taken place inside the prison, and the lawyers had raised no objection. Nor was it unprecedented to hold trials in prisons - the city court had done so before, Paulino pointed out (albeit in much less dramatic cases).

The lawyers have threatened to boycott the trial, and say they have advised their clients to say nothing at the trial unless the venue is changed.

These threats did not amuse the judge. He regarded some of the language used by the lawyers as a violation of professional ethics, and has remitted the case to the Bar Association.
(AIM) pf/ (453)
 

this article also available on allAfrica.com:
CARDOSO MURDER: JUDGE REFUTES LAWYERS