"Handeka/Movimento Cívico Mudei vigorously repudiate the use of commissioned deaths to silence competitors and stand in solidarity with the Mozambican people, appealing to their resilience and courage to demand that those responsible be brought to court and in the fight for electoral truth", reads a message shared on Facebook.
Handeka/Mudei's reaction comes in the wake of the murders of lawyer Elvino Dias and Podemos leader Paulo Guame, who were shot dead at around 11:20 pm local time (one hour less in Angola) on Friday, on Avenida Joaquim Chissano, center of the capital.
According to the police, another occupant, a woman who was in the back seats of the car, was also shot and was transported, with injuries, to Maputo Central Hospital.
Handeka/Mudei highlights that this political assassination "is outraging Mozambique and beyond its borders", in the aftermath of elections that are being strongly contested by opposition parties and described as "largely irregular by the various observers present".
According to Angolan organizations, presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlade, from Podemos, "was preparing to present evidence that they consider irrefutable" of electoral fraud through lawyer Elvino Dias.
The spokesperson for the Police of the Republic of Mozambique, Leonel Muchina, told Lusa on Saturday that the victims had been socializing in a market in Maputo, and "supposedly" a "discussion arising from marital matters" had taken place, from which they "later been followed".
The leader of the Optimistic People for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), Albino Forquilha, rejects this hypothesis, adding that those responsible for the double homicide used AK47-type weapons.
"These murders that occurred here are no different from what happened in 2019 [the year in which Mozambican activist Anastácio Matavel was shot dead by a group made up of members of the police forces, on the eve of the general elections]. They are people from our system, commanded by the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique [Frelimo]", declared Forquilha, recalling that the two victims, who were involved in the founding of the party, played a fundamental role in the fight for electoral justice that the party is waging.
Podemos, registered in May 2019, is the result of dissent from former members of Frelimo, who called for more "economic inclusion", having left the party in power at the time, citing "disenchantment" and different ambitions.
The Mozambican police confirmed on Saturday that the vehicle in which Elvino Dias, lawyer for presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane, and Paulo Guambe, representative of Podemos, the party that supports him, were following, shot dead, was an "ambush" and a third occupant was injured.
"They were approached and blocked by two light vehicles from which individuals disembarked and, armed with firearms, fired several shots that caused injuries and the death of the individuals identified above," the spokesperson for the Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM) from the city of Maputo, Leonel Muchina, told Lusa.
Throughout the night, videos of extreme violence circulated in Mozambique about the two victims, with the car apparently being hit by more than two dozen shots.
Lawyer Elvino Dias, a well-known defender of human rights cases in Mozambique, was a legal advisor to Venâncio Mondlane and the Democratic Alliance Coalition (CAD), a political formation that initially supported that candidate for President of the Republic of Mozambique, until his registration for the general elections on October 9 have been rejected by the National Elections Commission (CNE).
Venâncio Mondlane would then be supported in his candidacy by the Optimistic People for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos) party, whose national representative of the legislative and provincial lists, Paulo Guambe, was also in the car targeted by the crime.
The October 9 general elections included the seventh presidential elections – in which the current head of state, Filipe Nyusi, who reached the two-term limit, no longer ran – simultaneously with the seventh legislative and fourth elections for provincial assemblies and governors.
The CNE has 15 days, after the polls close, to announce the official results of the elections, a date that is October 24th, with the Constitutional Council then being responsible for proclaiming the results, after completing the analysis, also, of possible appeals, but without a defined deadline for this purpose.
The district and provincial election commissions have already completed the counting of votes in the October 9 general elections, which according to public announcements give an advantage to Frelimo, the party in power, and the presidential candidate that the party supports, Daniel Chapo, over 60 percent of the votes.
Venâncio Mondlane disputes these results, citing data from the original voting minutes and notices, which he collects across the country.
Mondlane assured on Thursday, in Beira, central Mozambique, that after the announcement of the results of the general elections he would appeal to the Constitutional Council, with the original minutes and notices of the vote.
The Portuguese Government, the European Union and the diplomatic representations in Maputo of the United States of America, Canada, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom condemned these murders, and called for a complete and rapid investigation.
