- Following the October 2024 general elections in Mozambique, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) member, Center for Democracy and Human Rights (CDD), has been investigating human rights violations committed during and after the elections.
- So far, CDD has confirmed, from 21st October 2024 to 15th January 2025, 348 civilian deaths, and 160 cases have been submitted to the Attorney General’s Office.
- CDD and FIDH call on the Mozambican Authorities to urgently ensure justice, truth, and reparations to victims and their families.
Paris, Maputo, 11 March 2025. While CDD investigations are ongoing, they have already reported 348 civilian deaths between October 2024 and January 2025 during the post-election crisis in Maputo and Nampula provinces, the most affected areas. These figures highlight the devastating impact of this period of extreme violence by various police units and reflect a significant humanitarian crisis, where human rights protections have been severely undermined and many lives brutally lost. On this basis, CDD recently submitted 160 related cases to the Attorney General’s Office.
Amid an ongoing crisis, Mozambique experienced a large-scale prison escape in December 2024 from Maputo Central Prision and its the Maximum-Security Facility (B.O.), Mabalane, and Morrumbala prisons. Only in Maputo Maputo Central Prison and its the Maximum-Security Facility (B.O.) 1,534 prisoners reportedly escaped. Tragically, what was initially reported as a prison break, escalated into a brutal crackdown by security forces, including summary executions and severe violations of fundamental rights. So far, CDD has confirmed 102 deaths caused by police operations during the escape in Maputo, with over 100 allegedly buried in mass graves. CDD subsequently filed a formal complaint with Mozambique’s Attorney General’s Office, detailing severe human rights violations during the mass escape of inmates in December 2024 from Maputo Central Prison and its the Maximum-Security Facility (B.O.). Following the complaint, the Attorney General opened an investigation.
“The December events once again expose the fragility of Mozambique’s justice system and underscore the urgency for profound reforms to ensure respect for human rights” said Adriano Nuvunga, Executive Director of CDD.
Preliminary findings from CDD suggests that escaping inmates were armed and had taken three prison guards hostage. Reports indicate that some of the inmates moved from BO to the Central Prison, where they reportedly acquired two additional firearms. While the prison hosts both pre-trial and convicted prisoners, Maputo Central Prison is severely overcrowded, with very poor detention conditions.
According to Alice Mogwe, FIDH President, “An independent and impartial investigation must be conducted to establish who was responsible for the post-election violence in Mozambique, and to ensure that those responsible are brought to justice”.
While no formal investigation has yet been opened into the post-election violence, our organisations call for a thorough investigation, reparations for the victims and their families, and the exhumation of bodies buried in mass graves to ensure dignified funeral rites.
According to CDD’s analysis of the broader context, violence occurred in a very short period marked by social disorder, where killings were not only perpetrated by the police but also took place within a wider scenario of orchestrated violence. Additionally, this episode of violence is part of a historical pattern of Mozambican elections, which are often preceded or followed by assassinations carried out by death squads and widespread violence. Thus, CDD strongly recommends the establishment of a mechanism that ensures truth, accountability, and justice for the victims and their families.
Context:
The elections in Mozambique were marked by violence, resulting in several deaths and injuries. Serious human rights violations were committed during, but especially after, the elections, as reported by civil society organisations, including CDD. Irregularities were also reported during the elections by civil society and regional and international observer missions.
In a statement released on 25 October 25 2024, the non-governmental organizations CDD, Center for Public Integrity (CIP) and Centro de Aprendizagem e Capacitação da Sociedade Civil (CESC) considered the elections of 9 October to have been the most fraudulent since 1999. The European Union Electoral Observation Mission in Mozambique delivered to the Mozambican authorities its Final Report relating to the seventh General Elections and Fourth Provincial Assemblies, highlighting irregularities and discrepancies that affect the integrity of the electoral process and results in the country.
In a Statement dated 28 October 2025, CDD and FIDH called for an immediate end to police violence, and the release of all unjustly detained individuals, as well as access to justice, and accountability for any abuses committed against the Mozambican people.
