The Center for Public Integrity (CIP) defends the criminal liability of prosecutors dismissed for facilitating the release of foreign citizens involved in drug trafficking.

The Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) also criticizes the lenient sentences handed down to magistrates and the fact that there is no information that they have been tried for their actions, as well as other individuals indicted for drug trafficking crimes. CIP points to the cases of two prosecutors dismissed between April 2023 and August 2024.

"The application of lenient sanctions (dismissal, with the right to readmission) to magistrates who facilitate the release of foreigners involved in international drug trafficking makes it difficult to combat this phenomenon, which represents one of the greatest risks of money laundering in Mozambique," writes CIP.

The NGO argues that the penalty should be permanent expulsion, instead of reinstating magistrates to the Public Prosecutor's Office, an act that can only take place after 12 years from the date of the expulsion order.

The Organic Law of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Statute of Public Prosecutors provide that a dismissed magistrate can be reinstated after eight (8) years from the date of the punitive order, provided that there is, cumulatively: a) a vacancy in the staff; b) budget availability; c) it is proven through his behavior that he is rehabilitated, he writes. "Theoretically, this means that prosecutors dismissed in 2023 and 2024 for facilitating the release of drug traffickers can return to their duties as public prosecutors in 2032 and 2033, respectively."

Without prejudice to disciplinary sanctions, it is essential that prosecutors are held criminally responsible, the NGO argues.

In the last five years, the Central Office for Combating Corruption (GCCC) has investigated 77 corruption cases against magistrates from various magistracies. Of these cases, 24 resulted in indictments, but there is no information on their outcome. Of this number, according to the Supreme Court and without giving too many details, 12 cases were tried and convicted. However, it is not known whether of the 12 cases tried there were criminal cases related to the involvement of magistrates in organized crime.