The Center for Democracy and Development (CDD), a non-governmental organization (NGO), denounced that the traffic police officer identified as Cláudio Jeque, who assaulted a young man, is still at large.

The case took place in the early hours of last Sunday (February 19), when a 34-year-old man named Armando Adriano was hit on the back with a bottle by a traffic police officer in the municipality of Matola, according to the CDD statement.

The NGO says that the victim was drinking alcohol in the early hours of Sunday morning in the company of friends, at the passenger transport terminal in Matola C.

"Then my neighbor came over with a friend, who is a traffic policeman. I went to meet my neighbor and we started talking about planes. And because we were drinking, we spoke loudly and my neighbor's friend thought we were arguing. He came over and threatened me, saying he was a police officer. I replied that I didn't care what he did, especially as he wasn't on duty," said the victim, quoted by the NGO.

"I was convinced that the problem had been overcome and went to a table to sit down. That's when he picked up the bottle, broke it and struck me several times on the back. My brother, who was there, tried to convince him to go to the police station, but he wouldn't accept," said the victim, quoted in an NGO document.

The NGO says that after the incident, the young man who was assaulted filed a complaint at the Matola C Police Station and then went to Matola Provincial Hospital, where he was treated.

"At the hospital they advised me not to do heavy work for 30 days. I'm in construction and I'm self-employed. So I don't know how I'm going to support my family during the 30 days I'm not supposed to do heavy work," he said in a document produced by the NGO.

The CDD says that the attitude of the PRM officer reveals an abuse of authority. "What's more, four days after causing bodily harm to a defenceless citizen, the aggressor is still at large and carrying out his duties in the police force as if nothing had happened," the NGO denounces.

"He has not been remanded in custody, as would be the case with an ordinary citizen committing this type of bodily harm. There is no information that the offending police officer was notified to be heard in relation to the case," says the NGO in its document.

The NGO goes further and accuses the police force of being guided by impunity.

"This police action proves, once again, the impunity that reigns in the corporation. It is the feeling of impunity in the PRM that serves as an 'incentive' for many officers to systematically violate human rights," says the NGO.