Central SA
Mozambican court sentences poachers to 16-years imprisonment─── 09:56 Thu, 05 Dec 2019
Mozambique’s judiciary is setting a strict precedent against poaching in an attempt to dissuade future offenders by sentencing 11 people to sentences of 16 years each.
Judge Martinho Cheguere said the sentence he passed on the perpetrators who had poached in the Gorongosa National Park, famous for its elephants, lions and rhinos, was aimed at getting people to "abandon" the criminal activity, the BBC reported.
However, defence lawyer Tania Joaquim said the sentences were draconian as the 11 Mozambicans had all confessed to the crime, adding that she would be appealing.
During Mozambique’s 15-year-long civil war, poaching was endemic, with elephants killed for their ivory which was then sold to purchase weapons.
After the war ended in 1992, poaching declined dramatically but remains a problem as the African continent deals with a decline in elephant numbers.
African News Agency (ANA)
