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2007 Assessment

Mozambique: Integrity Indicators Scorecard

Mozambique: Integrity Scorecard Report > Sub-Category: Rule of Law
Indicators		Score
74	Is there an appeals mechanism for challenging criminal judgments?	58
75	In practice, do judgments in the criminal system follow written law?	50
76	In practice, are judicial decisions enforced by the state?	50
77	Is the judiciary able to act independently?	81
78	Are judges safe when adjudicating corruption cases?	100
79	Do citizens have equal access to the justice system?	57

Indicator and sub-Indicator Details

Is there an appeals mechanism for challenging criminal judgments?

74a: In law, there is a general right of appeal.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: Decree-law 44129 dated, Dec. 28, 1961 in conjunction with the article 676 of the decree-law16489 dated of Feb. 15, 1929.

74b: In practice, appeals are resolved within a reasonable time period.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Custodio Duma, lawyer at the League of Human Rights of Mozambique (Liga dos Direitos Humanos de Mocambqiue), held on Aug. 17, 2007 in his office.

74c: In practice, citizens can use the appeals mechanism at a reasonable cost.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Custodio Duma, lawyer at the League of Human Rights of Mozambique (Liga dos Direitos Humanos de Mocambqiue), held on Aug. 17, 2007 in his office.

In practice, do judgments in the criminal system follow written law?

75: In practice, do judgments in the criminal system follow written law?

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Custodio Duma, lawyer at the League of Human Rights of Mozambique (Liga dos Direitos Humanos de Mocambqiue), held on Aug. 17, 2007 in his office.

Peer Review Comments: Judgments are also a matter of interpretation of written law. As interpretation is influenced by the frame of mind of the judge and the other lawyers (e.g. prosecutors), the score provided by the Social Scientist seems realistic to me.

In practice, are judicial decisions enforced by the state?

76: In practice, are judicial decisions enforced by the state?

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Custodio Duma, lawyer at the League of Human Rights of Mozambique (Liga dos Direitos Humanos de Mocambqiue), held on Aug. 17, 2007 in his office.

Is the judiciary able to act independently?

77a: In law, the independence of the judiciary is guaranteed.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: Article 4 of the law 10/91 dated Sept. 30 and the article 217 of the Constitution.

77b: In practice, national-level judges are protected from political interference.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Custodio Duma, lawyer at the League of Human Rights of Mozambique (Liga dos Direitos Humanos de Mocambqiue), held on Aug. 17, 2007 in his office.

77c: In law, there is a transparent and objective system for distributing cases to national-level judges.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: Article 209 and the following of the Decree-law 44129 dated of Dec. 18, 1961.

77d: In law, national-level judges are protected from removal without relevant justification.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: Article 217 of the Constitution of the Republic.

Are judges safe when adjudicating corruption cases?

78a: In practice, in the last year, no judges have been physically harmed because of adjudicating corruption cases.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: Interview with Custodio Duma, lawyer at the League of Human Rights of Mozambique (Liga dos Direitos Humanos de Mocambqiue), held on Aug. 17, 2007 in his office.

Reading the most circulating daily/weekly papers (Noticias, SAVANA, Domingo, Magazine and Zambeze) in the country.

Peer Review Comments: The yes answer means there is no proof that a judge has been harmed because of a corruption case.

78b: In practice, in the last year, no judges have been killed because of adjudicating corruption cases.

Score:

YES

$Scoring Criteria :: YES: A YES score is earned if there were no documented cases of judges being killed related to their involvement in a corruption case during the study period. YES is a positive score. NO: A NO score is earned if there were any documented cases where a judge was killed because of his/her participation in a corruption trial. The relationship between a mysterious death and a judge\'s involvement in a case may not be clear, however the burden of proof here is low. If it is a reasonable assumption that a judge was killed in relation to his or her work on corruption issues, then the indicator is scored as a NO. Corruption is defined broadly to include any abuses of power, not just the passing of bribes.$

Comments:

References: Interview with Custodio Duma, lawyer at the League of Human Rights of Mozambique (Liga dos Direitos Humanos de Mocambqiue), held on Aug. 17, 2007 in his office.

Reading the most circulating daily/weekly papers (Noticias, SAVANA, Domingo, Magazine and Zambeze) in the country.

Peer Review Comments: Without proof to the contrary, I agree with the yes answer.

Do citizens have equal access to the justice system?

79a: In practice, judicial decisions are not affected by racial or ethnic bias.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Custodio Duma, lawyer at the League of Human Rights of Mozambique (Liga dos Direitos Humanos de Mocambqiue), held on Aug. 17, 2007 in his office.

Reading the most circulating daily/weekly papers (Noticias, SAVANA, Domingo, Magazine and Zambeze) in the country.

79b: In practice, women have full access to the judicial system.

Score:

100

Comments: Access to the judicial system is problematic in rural areas, regardless of the gender. Both men and women have problems in accessing to the judicial system either because there are no courts or because the people are not familiar with the formal judicial system, which hinders their access to justice.

References: Interview with Custodio Duma, lawyer at the League of Human Rights of Mozambique (Liga dos Direitos Humanos de Mocambqiue), held on Aug. 17, 2007 in his office.

Reading the most circulating daily/weekly papers (Noticias, SAVANA, Domingo, Magazine and Zambeze) in the country.

Peer Review Comments: The authors refer to broader socio-economic constraints, not to issues specific to women's access to the judicial system. Maybe some cultural biases persist, but generally speaking I don't think there's a systematic gender bias in the functioning of the judicial system

Peer Review Comments: If I factor in the local culture, I would say that women and men have equal access to the judicial system. There are even instances where women have more access than men, because of favor they get as women. Likewise, in some cases, men have more access than women. Overall, neither men nor women have "full access" to the judicial system as such. Access to law should be evaluated on a case by case basis.

79c: In law, the state provides legal counsel for defendants in criminal cases who cannot afford it.

Score:

YES

Comments:

References: Article 62 (1) of the Constitution of the Republic.

79d: In practice, the state provides adequate legal counsel for defendants in criminal cases who cannot afford it.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Custodio Duma, lawyer at the League of Human Rights of Mozambique (Liga dos Direitos Humanos de Mocambqiue), held on Aug. 17, 2007 in his office.

Interview with Jose Munguambe, lawyer and researcher at the Center fro Public Integrity of Mozambique (Centro de Integridade Publica de Mocambique), held on Aug.17, 2007.

79e: In practice, citizens earning the median yearly income can afford to bring a legal suit.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Custodio Duma, lawyer at the League of Human Rights of Mozambique (Liga dos Direitos Humanos de Mocambqiue), held on Aug. 17, 2007 in his office.

Interview with Jose Munguambe, lawyer and researcher at the Center fro Public Integrity of Mozambique (Centro de Integridade Publica de Mocambique), held on Aug.17, 2007.

79f: In practice, a typical small retail business can afford to bring a legal suit.

Score:

100

Comments:

References: Interview with Custodio Duma, lawyer at the League of Human Rights of Mozambique (Liga dos Direitos Humanos de Mocambqiue), held on Aug. 17, 2007 in his office.

Interview with Jose Munguambe, lawyer and researcher at the Center fro Public Integrity of Mozambique (Centro de Integridade Publica de Mocambique), held on Aug.17, 2007.

79g: In practice, all citizens have access to a court of law, regardless of geographic location.

Score:

100

Comments: The rural areas where the majority of the populace live have limited access to the judicial system.

References: Interview with Custodio Duma, lawyer at the League of Human Rights of Mozambique (Liga dos Direitos Humanos de Mocambqiue), held on Aug. 17, 2007 in his office.

Interview with Jose Munguambe, lawyer and researcher at the Center fro Public Integrity of Mozambique (Centro de Integridade Publica de Mocambique), held on Aug.17, 2007.

Peer Review Comments: The score is fair to me. I need to clarify that geographic location may mean either urban versus rural, or province X versus province Y. Because of political affiliations or economic situation, some provinces may have more access to the legal system than others.