(MISA/IFEX) – Photojournalist Kok Nam spent the night of Wednesday 28 November 2001 in jail because of a fine equivalent to less than US$5, the Agencia Informação Moçambique (AIM) reported on 29 November. Kok Nam is the director of the weekly newspaper “Savana”, which is fighting a libel case brought by a businessman in the […]
(MISA/IFEX) – Photojournalist Kok Nam spent the night of Wednesday 28 November 2001 in jail because of a fine equivalent to less than US$5, the Agencia Informação Moçambique (AIM) reported on 29 November. Kok Nam is the director of the weekly newspaper “Savana”, which is fighting a libel case brought by a businessman in the southern province of Inhambane, arising from a 1997 article.
Antonio Gumende, the chairman of “Mediacoop”, the cooperative that owns “Savana”, said the case came to court in the Inhambane district of Inhassoro two months ago, but “Savana”‘s lawyer, Domingos Arouca, was unable to attend. He had a very good reason for not attending, as he is a member of the body that regulates the judiciary, the Supreme Council of the Judicial Magistrature (CSMJ), which was holding a meeting in Maputo that day.
Despite Arouca’s absence, the Inhassoro judge went ahead with the trial and found “Savana” guilty in absentia. “Savana” was ordered to pay libel damages of 500 million meticais (US$22,272) and the court fined Kok Nam, as director of the newspaper, 100,000 meticais (US$4.4) for failing to attend. The absence of “Savana” was interpreted as contempt of court.
Arouca immediately appealed and called for the verdict to be quashed. He was successful. The first trial was annulled and a retrial set for 13 November. This date was also inconvenient and so
“Savana” asked for a further postponement. This too was granted and the trial date is now set for 14 December. “Mediacoop” was therefore amazed when an official from the Inhassoro district court appeared in Maputo on Wednesday 28 November with a warrant for Kok Nam’s arrest. The court wished to arrest Kok Nam and, in addition, fully intended to drag him from Maputo to Inhassoro, a distance of about 750 kilometres, so that he could pay the court his 100,000 meticais fine.
According to AIM, rather than regard jailing someone over a US$5 fine as absurd, the Maputo City Court zealously implemented the Inhassoro warrant. Gumende said Arouca had advised
“Mediacoop” that he regarded the fine as entirely illegal. He said “Savana”‘s absence from the Inhassoro trial was not unlawful.
Throughout the afternoon of 28 November,
“Mediacoop” attempted to persuade the city court to set Kok Nam free but to no avail. As a result, one of the country’s leading photographers spent a night behind bars, because a court demanded a tiny fine of dubious legality, imposed during a trial that was subsequently annulled.
When AIM spoke to Gumende late on 29 November, Kok Nam was still in jail and court officials were busy preparing to haul him off to Inhassoro.
According to AIM, the Inhassoro district court apparently does not believe in economic rationality or cost-benefit analyses. Dispatching the warrant to Maputo and transporting Kok Nam from Maputo to Inhassoro must have cost much more than 100,000 meticais. This sum of money will buy a 10 kilo sack of potatoes or one meal in a cheap restaurant. It cannot possibly cover even the fuel costs of a trip to Inhassoro, AIM reported.
