contravene the values and principles enshrined in the CRM and the promotion and
protection of human rights.
36. Capital punishment is strictly prohibited in terms of Article 40(2) of the CRM.
Capital punishment was abolished as the 1990 Constitution came into force. The
constitutional amendments of 2004 reiterated this major gain.
37. The CRM reflects the fundamental principles of the criminal justice administration
system. The CRM guarantees the principles of legal compliance and of nonretroactivity of laws, except when new provisions are favorable to a defendant. No
citizen may be tried more than once for the same crime. The CRM guarantees the
right to have sentences reviewed and to compensation in case of unfair decisions.
Sentences or measures designed to deprive individuals of freedom, either
perpetually or for an unlimited or indefinite period of time are prohibited under the
Constitution. Sentences are not transmissible. No sentence may automatically
result in the loss of any fundamental rights, save the restrictions inherent to a
sentence and the specific requirements applicable to the execution of a sentence.
Habeas Corpus is guaranteed under the Constitution, and the Criminal Code
recognizes the principles of nulla poena sine culpa and proportionality. Under no
circumstances may a sentence exceed the provisions of the law for a specific
crime.
38. The CRM guarantees freedom of association and the rights of citizens to freely
form associations for purposes that they deem fit, provided that such associations
do not entail the disruption of the established order or the well-being of other
citizens.
IV. Ratification of International Instruments
39. The CRM provides for the domestication of international legal norms. Once
ratified, regional and international instruments have the same legal standing as the
infra-constitutional norms emanating from the Assembly of the Republic and
Government. 7 This implies that every international human rights instrument to
which Mozambique is a State Party shall be applicable to the country as a whole
once they have been published in the Republic Gazette [Boletim da República].
This implies, therefore, that international norms related to human rights may be
directly invoked before the country’s courts.
40. Thus, the Mozambique State has made an effort to ratify most regional and
international instruments with a view to providing a broad basis for the fulfillment
of universal human rights principles. These instruments include:
7
CRM, Article 18 (1) and (2)
Combined Report from the Republic of Mozambique to the ACHPR, 1999-2010
10