Unknown assailants gunned down prominent opposition lawyer, Elvino Dias, in the early hours of Saturday in Maputo, Mozambique. The shocking incident, which took place shortly after midnight, has sent waves of outrage and mourning across the country.
Dias, who represented independent presidential candidate Venâncio Mondlane and the Optimistic Party for the Development of Mozambique (Podemos), was killed alongside Paulo Guambe, a Podemos election agent. The two were ambushed and fatally shot while seated in the front seats of their vehicle on Joaquim Chissano Avenue, in the Coop neighborhood of Maputo.
According to reports by the independent news outlet Carta de Moçambique, the attack occurred between 00:30 and 00:40 AM. Eyewitness accounts state that two unidentified gunmen intercepted the vehicle and immediately opened fire. Two other individuals, seated in the back of the car, survived the attack.
The area where the attack took place is just 100 meters from the Pulmão market in the Malhangalene neighborhood, where Dias and Guambe had been socializing with friends earlier that night. It is known that Dias was a frequent visitor to this location.
One of the first public reactions to the killings came from Tomás Timbane, former president of the Mozambican Bar Association. In a heartfelt message on his Facebook page, Timbane expressed,
“Advocacy is in mourning. The rule of law is in mourning. Mozambique does not deserve this. We do not deserve it.”
The deaths of Dias and Guambe bring chilling reminders of the political violence that shook Mozambique in 2019, when civil society activist Anastácio Matavele was killed in a similar attack in Xai-Xai. Matavele’s murderers were later revealed to be members of a police death squad, four of whom were convicted and sentenced to long prison terms.
