Four years after the violent attack on Agostinho Vuma, President of the Confederation of Economic Associations of Mozambique (CTA), the Supreme Court has just overturned the decision of the High Court of Appeal in Maputo to discharge the main suspect in the attempted murder, Salimo Momad Muidine.

The incident, it should be remembered, took place on July 11, 2020, near Vuma's office, located in Prédio Tavares, in the city of Maputo. According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, the accused, Salimo Muidine, was the author of the shots that hit the deputy speaker of the Assembly of the Republic, putting his life at risk.

In a publication by Letter from MozambiqueAccording to the indictment, Muidine acted together with an unidentified accomplice, who immobilized Vuma before he fired two shots, one of which hit the CTA president in the head. The attack took place in broad daylight and images from nearby surveillance cameras captured two armed men fleeing the scene after the crime.

Meanwhile, the reopening of the case allows the Maputo City Judicial Court to begin the trial of the agent from the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC) accused of the attempted murder.

It should be remembered that in 2022, the Maputo High Court of Appeal had dismissed the murder suspect, citing a lack of conclusive evidence linking him directly to the crime, despite the initial evidence and the seriousness of the crime. The decision was contested by the Public Prosecutor's Office, which appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing that the victim's recognition and the available testimonies provided solid grounds for the trial.

The Supreme Court ended up agreeing with the Public Prosecutor's Office, pointing out that there were sufficient elements, such as Yara Cossa's testimony and Vuma's photographic recognition, to bring Salimo Muidine to trial. The suspect will remain in pre-trial detention. The court justified maintaining his detention on the grounds of the risk of flight and the possibility of interference in the investigations, given Muidine's position at SERNIC.

It should be noted that the businessman Silvestre Bila has been identified as the mastermind of the crime, and that there is an autonomous case (No. 353/11/P/2020) filed by the Public Prosecutor's Office, which is on appeal.

The suspicions, it should be noted, are based on the testimony of Yara Simões Cossa, Silvestre Bila's ex-wife, who said that Vuma was being followed by an individual at the behest of his former partner, with unknown intentions. The trial could shed more light on the circumstances of the crime, which shocked the country.

(Photo DR)