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| - The trial opened in Mozambique on Tuesday of seven elite police officers and a civilian accused of the murder of an election observer in the run-up to national polls last year. Anastacio Matavele, the 58-year-old head of a local election observer mission, was gunned down behind the wheel of his car in a drive-by shooting in the southeastern city of Xai-Xai just days before the October 15 vote. The killers were caught red-handed after colliding into another car as they fled the scene. Two were killed in the crash and two were wounded, while a fifth managed to escape and is being tried in absentia. Mozambique's national police later recognised the men as members of its elite rapid intervention unit and launched an investigation into the killing. Four more members of the unit were later detained, as well as the owner of the vehicle driven by the death squad. "We are here to judge the criminal cases related to the murder of Anastacio Matavele," said judge Ana Liquidao. "The accused are (the) seven citizens here and one fugitive." The defendants have been charged with voluntary homicide, conspiracy and illegal use of firearms. They have not yet responded to the indictment. Two of the policemen caught after the car crash previously confessed to taking part in Matavele's murder. A local rights group has accused the state of seeking to deny its responsibility in the case. "The bodies of justice... have conducted all investigations to make the state unaccountable, which could transform the trial... in a farce," said Adriano Nuvunga, head of Mozambique's Centre for Democracy and Development. Nuvunga also accused the court of bias for failing to request an extract of the defendants' telephone conversations in the run-up to the murder. Last month, the public prosecutor refused to compensate Matavele's family on behalf of the state, as demanded by their lawyer. Court documents seen by AFP said the claim was rejected on the basis that the policemen who killed Matavele were acting "at their own risk" and not in service of the state. str-sch/txw
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