MAPUTO – A judge who was presiding over the kidnapping cases has been assassinated. AIM reported that Judge Dinis Silica was killed last Thursday morning in the city.
He had recently validated the arrest of Mr Manish Cantilal, a business figure accused of involvement in the wave of abductions in Maputo and Matola.
Silica worked in the criminal section of the Maputo City Court and, according to a report in Friday’s issue of the independent newsheet Mediafax, about three weeks ago he had legalised the detention of Cantilal, after concluding there was sufficient evidence to support the police claim that he was one of those ordering the kidnappings.
Eyewitnesses said Silica was assassinated when he stopped his car at a red traffic light at the junction of Karl Marx and Marien Ngouabi avenues. A car that had been following him, with three occupants, drew up beside his, and the windows were opened. Two AK-47 assault rifles appeared and opened fire, spraying Silica’s car with bullets.
Seconds later one of the death squad jumped out of the car and continued to pump bullets into the judge’s body. Then he jumped back into the car, which sped off.
The assassins fired dozens of bullets, completely shattering Silica’s face, rendering it almost unrecognisable.
It seems that they had followed him from the door of his home, in nearby Rua de Malhangalene. The judge was almost certainly on his way to work at the court.
When the police arrived, they inspected Silica’s vehicle and found large sums of money on the back seat. Maputo City police spokesman Arnaldo Chefo told reporters that he had been carrying US$68 000 and 1,5 million meticais (equivalent to about US$49 000). To date, it is not known where this money came from or why Silica had it in his car.
“The police investigation now underway will determine whether the judge was murdered because of this money, or for some other motive. We are also working to ascertain the origin of this large sum of money.” The Mozambique Association of Judges issued a statement, signed by its chairman,
Ms Vitalina Papadakis, describing the murder as “a shock for the entire nation, and for judges in particular”.
She said she did not believe that Silica was a corrupt judge. “No defect of character or propensity to illicit acts, notably involvement in corruption, is known with regard to Silica,” she said.
“The attempt at character assassination is just a stage in discrediting not only the murdered judge, but the entire judicial apparatus.”
Papadakis insisted that killing a judge would not lead to dropping criminal charges against those who might have ordered the assassination. “On the contrary, it drives us to an unremitting commitment against organised crime.”
