The Maputo Provincial Court has postponed the start of the trial in the murder of Mozambican journalist João Chamusse.

This is the second time this has happened, and this time there seems to have been no justification.

The start of the trial was postponed from August 8th to August 15th. This Thursday (15.08), it was postponed again until the 29th of this month.

There is only one defendant in the case. He is Elias Ezequiel Ndlate, 24, a collector by profession and the victim's neighbor. According to the indictment of June 18, 2024, the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) accuses the young man of the crime of aggravated robbery (robbery concurrent with the crime of murder), provided for and punishable by the combination of articles 279, no. 1, and 280, no. 3, both of the Penal Code.

Nineteen declarants are expected to be heard. Among them is Anabela Ernesto Sitoe, an employee of the Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration in Katembe district.

According to the Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD), Sitoe was accused by the Public Prosecutor's Office (MP) of being the mastermind of the murder. "...one of the accused had claimed, in the presence of the Public Prosecutor's Office, that she had promised 50,000.00 meticais in exchange for the journalist's life."

Chamusse's family, neighbors and society hope that this trial will reveal the truth and that those responsible will be punished exemplarily, not only for the murder, but also for the attack on press freedom in our country. Journalist João Chamusse was murdered in the early hours of Thursday, December 14, at his home in the KaTembe district of Maputo City.