The Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), a Mozambican non-governmental organization, considers in its two reports that the human rights situation deteriorated in the last quarter of 2023, pointing to the Mozambican state, through the forces of law and order, as the main violator.

"The fourth quarter was the scene of successive human rights violations (...) in an arbitrary manner," with an emphasis on violations against "the right to life and the right to demonstrate," says lawyer Yara Lamúgio, who presented the report on the "Human Rights Situation during the 2023 Municipal Elections".

Quoted by VOA, the CDD gives the example of the killing of citizens by the police in Bairro de Namicopo, in the northern province of Nampula, during post-election demonstrations.

Another example of the deteriorating human rights situation is the murder in December of journalist João Chamusse at his home in Maputo.

For the director of the CDD, Adriano Nuvunga, the criminal liability of the state and its agents is the practical solution so that these cases don't recur in the general elections, which the country will hold in October this year.

The government has not yet reacted to the accusations, but a month ago, the Commander of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique, Bernardino Rafael, apologized to the families of the victims of police excesses, which resulted in the deaths of citizens in the post-election period.

Faced with "mistakes made by agents in the application of the law, the commander has a moral, spiritual and social obligation to apologize to all the families for whom we didn't provide the service as it should have been, but we made a mistake," said Rafael.