Tete, Mozambique, July 2, 2026 (Lusa) - The Decide Platform on Thursday lodged a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office in the Mozambican city of Tete, calling for a swift and thorough investigation into police conduct during protests by motorcycle taxi drivers on 16 June, which left two people dead.
“The incident in Tete demands a response from the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Remaining silent in the face of violations of citizens’ rights only fuels impunity,” reads a statement released today by the Mozambican non-governmental organisation (NGO).
At issue is the death of at least two people and the injury of another, all shot on 16 June, during violent clashes between the police (the PRM) and demonstrators, following protests by motorcycle taxi drivers in Tete, a province in the centre of the country, against the multi-sectoral traffic inspection operation carried out by the PRM and the Tete municipal police.
In the submission, addressed to the Chief Public Prosecutor of the city of Tete, the Decide Platform states that preliminary information gathered on the ground and reported by the media suggests that the fatalities were not directly involved in the protests.
For this reason, it expresses “well-founded concerns” regarding the “possible excessive and disproportionate use of force by PRM officers and the possible commission of criminal offences against life and physical integrity”.
The NGO also invokes provisions of the Constitution and international human rights instruments, emphasising that the use of force must comply with the principles of necessity and proportionality.
“Article 40 of the Constitution of Mozambique enshrines the right to life and to physical and moral integrity, establishing that no citizen may be arbitrarily deprived of these rights [and] Article 51 of the Constitution guarantees citizens the right to assembly and demonstration in accordance with the law”, explains Decide in the document.
In its submission, the Decide Platform maintains that, given the “seriousness” of the events, it has requested the Chief Prosecutor to carry out a “swift, independent, thorough and impartial investigation”, as well as to initiate the appropriate legal proceedings regarding the events.
The NGO also calls for the identification of the PRM officers directly involved in the operation for the purposes of clarification and accountability, and for the collection and preservation of relevant evidence, including videos, photographs, operational reports, service communications, weapons used and ballistic tests.
The submission further includes requests for the preparation and inclusion in the case file of forensic reports, clinical reports and death certificates for the fatalities; the hearing of eyewitnesses, healthcare professionals and other individuals with relevant knowledge of the facts; and the determination of any criminal, disciplinary and/or civil liability of those directly and indirectly responsible for the events.
The organisation also calls for the implementation of protective measures for witnesses and the victims’ families.
The unrest temporarily disrupted traffic on National Road 7, the epicentre of the demonstrations, whilst at Tete Provincial Hospital, relatives of the victims wept and lamented what had happened, questioning the police actions.
“He left in the morning and said he’d be back soon, and after an hour or two, we heard he was lying there outside, shot. When we went to see, he’d been shot in the head (…). [The victim] had nothing to do with any of this; he wasn’t even on the road,” said a relative of one of the victims on the day of the incident.
Lusa contacted the Mozambican police spokesperson in Tete on the same day for further clarification, but received no response.
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