A Mozambican former top cop has been sentenced to 22 years in prison for leading a mission that resulted in the torture and killing of a suspected criminal, it was reported on Friday.
Alexandre Balate, then head of a special crime investigations unit of the national police service, was also ordered to pay 500 000 Meticais (R166 000) to the family of Abranches Afonso Penicelo, the state controlled daily Noticias paper said in its online edition.
Prior to killing Penicelo in August 2007, Balate and his team had set fire to him while he was still alive and he had sustained 72% burns to his body. This took place near the capital Maputo.
Penicelo was later shot dead in Xinavane district, about 100km north of Maputo.
Judge Pascoal Jussa, in pronouncing sentence, said the actions of Balate in torturing and killing Penicelo were committed as an individual and were not consistent with his official duties.
Mozambican police have in recent time been accused of using excessive force in their treatment of suspects.
The United States government’s 2008 human rights report on Mozambique noted that reports of torture and killings by police continued to be of concern.
”Security forces continued to commit unlawful killings although the government took steps to prosecute perpetrators,” said the 2008 report.
The report also mentioned the case of Balate.
”In September [2007] a Maputo public prosecutor accused PIC agent Alexandre Francisco Balate of the August 2007 killing of Abranches Afonso Penicelo.
”There were no further developments at year’s end,” said the report. — Sapa