This morning in Maputo, MISA-Mozambique submitted a petition to the Public Prosecutor's Office, demanding more energetic action in relation to crimes against media professionals, said the president of the media institution, Jeremias Langa.

"We are leaving another document which is a criminal complaint against unknown persons. Fundamentally, we've come here to appeal to the Public Prosecutor's Office to carry out a serious and in-depth investigation that will allow us to get to the material truth, to find out under what circumstances, who the perpetrators are and what the motivations are for the murder of our colleague João Chamusse," he said.

Langa was speaking to journalists on the occasion of the silent march on crimes against journalists, which was sparked by the murder, on Thursday, December 14, of the Editorial Director of the weekly Ponto por Ponto, João Chamusse.

The President of MISA Mozambique also revealed that the Public Prosecutor's Office had been asked to avoid falling into the temptation of first arresting individuals and then starting to investigate the crime, so as to easily get to the truth.

On Thursday (14), the police of the Republic of Mozambique arrested a 44-year-old bricklayer on suspicion that he was the murderer of João Chamusse.

"We think that clarifying this issue is important for a climate of freedom in Mozambique. Many professionals are intimidated. There is a certain retraction with regard to freedoms, because people don't know what the motives were for João Chamusse's murder," he said.

Jeremias Langa believes that the clarification of the case will help popular opinion to determine whether the crime is related to the exercise of the profession, or to other causes.

"Until this is clarified, we're obviously going to have a field of suspension, where communication professionals won't be at ease," he noted.