Focus on the Cardoso murder trial convictions

The celebrated trial and conviction of six men accused of murdering Carlos Cardoso, one of Mozambique's top investigative journalists, was both a triumph of the openness of the court proceedings, and an indictment of the corruption among the country's rich and powerful. On the afternoon of 31 January, Judge Augusto Paulino ended his four-hour judgement in a large tent erected in the grounds of the maximum security prison which served as a courtroom. It was packed with Mozambicans from all walks of life, including top officials of the ruling Frelimo party, members of the diplomatic corps, human rights groups, and journalists who have followed the high-profile trial since it began on 18 November. As Paulino read out the stiff sentences, four of the accused reacted impassively, whereas the fifth, Momade Assife Abdul Satar "Nini", shook his head in apparent disbelief when he heard his jail term of 24 years. The sixth accused, Anibal dos Santos Junior "Anibalzinho", was tried in absentia, because he had somehow escaped or been removed from the maximum security prison on 1 September and was recaptured in Pretoria, South Africa, on 30 January when it was too late to give evidence. Deemed responsible for recruiting the assassins that ambushed and killed Cardoso in November 2000, he received the longest sentence of 28 years and six months. It was thought that he would have offered the vital evidence that could have linked the eldest son of President Joachim Chissano, Nyimpine Chissano, to the case. Three of the accused alleged that Nyimpine Chissano had ordered Cardoso's murder, and paid up to 1 billion meticais (about US $40,000) for the hit. At the time of his death, Cardoso, the founder, publisher and editor of the now defunct daily newsletter Metical, was investigating a US $14 million fraud at one of the branches of the then state-owned Commercial Bank of Mozambique (BCM). Testimony presented at the trial, avidly followed by Mozambicans, revealed an underworld of sleaze involving international drug dealing, money laundering and customs fraud by individuals linked to the top of Frelimo. After the hearing, Mozambicans appeared excited by the verdict, but there was also cynicism that more powerful members of society had so far escaped justice. For example, 50-year-old Joao Mahuai, a security guard, who listened to the case on the radio, was not totally satisfied with the judgement. He is a father of 10 children, but works for less than US $40 a month guarding a house situated in the same privileged neighbourhood where one of the accused, Vincent Ramaya, used to live. Ramaya was allegedly involved in the BCM bank fraud, and was found guilty of being one of the masterminds of the plot to kill Cardoso. "I was shocked to hear that some people in Mozambique have access to so much money," said Mahuai, referring to the US $14 million stolen from the BCM branch where Ramaya was manager. The average Mozambican earns only about US $30 a month. "This trail hasn't solved the problem. Corruption is not over. How come Anibalzinho left just before the trial and then appeared again after the sentence? It was not someone like me that let him out of prison, it was someone with a lot of power," Mahuai said. "The government doesn't care about our future. They only care about themselves," he added, shaking his head angrily. "It is painful to hear that they have so much when we work so hard and earn hardly anything." "Where is Nyimpine?" Mahuai asked, referring to the alleged involvement of the president's son in the case. In his judgement, Paulino stressed that "others" could also have been involved in Cardoso's murder and mentioned the alleged presence of Nyimpine Chissano at meetings where the assassination was planned. A separate file has been opened to see whether enough evidence can be gathered to prosecute Chissano in a new trial. While the authorities have been commended for bringing the case to court – albeit under pressure - analysts have predicted that Frelimo could find it hard to recover its credibility in its aftermath. "The image of Frelimo has been damaged by the case," said Carlos Castel Branco, a Mozambican economist at Eduardo Mondlane University, in Maputo. "The whole case has been a judgement about the state of corruption in the country." He too said he was appalled about the amount of money robbed from such a poor country, and the number of powerful people that seemed to be implicated and who have remained untouched for years. He added that huge financial scandals have taken place in a country where most people continue to languish in poverty, despite donor approval of Mozambique's economic reforms. "This [trail's] openness has allowed the public to see justice being done and for each to draw their own conclusions," said Linette Olofsson, a member of parliament for the main opposition party Renamo. "It has far reaching political implications." But while Mozambicans have been shocked by the revelations made during the case, among foreign observers there has been praise for the trail process. Reggy Morobe, the director of a South African company making a documentary about the trial, told IRIN: "Allowing the electronic media to cover the case live gave the public an opportunity to form its own opinion, and that has been a major step and a positive example for the whole continent to emulate. Although people are not totally satisfied with the outcome, they see the judicial system can work. It has started something that should continue. It has empowered the people."