Trial of Venâncio Mondlane will not be broadcast live

“ Othe Supreme Court, through its criminal section, decided to reject the request for direct audiovisual transmission of the trial; prohibit the recording of sound and image during the course of the trial, but also allow the media to accompany the trial by making the written record ", said the adviser of the Supreme Court Pedro Nhatitima, in press conference, in Maputo.

On the 11th, the TS had advanced to be evaluating a request from the defense of the politician Venâncio Mondlane for his trial to be broadcast live, having guaranteed at the time that the authorization is a “prerogatory of the court”.

This is a criminal case brought by the Public Prosecutor (MP) against Mondlane in the context of post-election demonstrations. The politician answers for the crimes of public apology to crime, incitement to collective disobedience, public instigation to the practice of crime, instigation to terrorism and incitement to terrorism, in a criminal framework that can exceed 20 years of effective imprisonment.

According to the prosecution order of the Public Prosecutor, to which Lusa recently had access, the evidence against Venâncio Mondlane is largely based on appeals to contest, strikes, paralyses and mobilization for protests made through live broadcasts on social networks, with the trial being confirmed on November 17.

At a press conference, Pedro Nhatitima argued that the request was rejected because the principle of advertising and the right to information “is not absolute” and that the rejection aims to prevail “morality, the security issue and also the lawfulness of the process”.

“ It is important that the course or publicity of the trial does not call into question the lawfulness of the case itself. In the specific case of this trial that will take place on 17 November, (...) taking into account the nature of the crimes of which the defendant has been charged, some dangers have been identified that may call into question the principle of presumption of innocence ", said.

In particular, he mentioned the risk of “intimidation and conditioning of witnesses”.

“ Being televised and heard live on the radio, there is a risk, after being heard, of being threatened. And we want to protect our witnesses,” he added.

The judge also explained that the rejection aims to prevent the risk of “contamination of the testimonial”.

“ As a certain witness is being heard, there are other witnesses who will still be heard in the course of the process and these witnesses, having the possibility to follow the trial live, will know in advance what the witness is saying and, eventually, this can influence the testimony that he will give at another time ", justified.

Another argument put forward by the TS has to do with the “risk of trial instrumentalization”, stressing that the court wants to prevent it from being a means of propaganda for purposes other than those aimed at pursuing justice.

“ The other danger is the pressure on the Court, which can compromise its serenity, also the safety of procedural actors. Some of the crimes the defendant has been accused of have to do with alleged acts of terrorism. And we will have experts here in our investigation and that may be some trouble for those people, for those experts who worked on the process,” he added, referring also to the need to ensure the presumption of innocence until the end of the process.

Nhatitima added that the TS will not allow the transmission to not constitute a “social instability factor”.

The media will have access to the room, but forbidden to record, and “reinvent” to ensure reliable information.