- Prosecution left out the civil registry staff who issued forged birth certificates in order to grant Mozambican citizenship to the Turks
- Whistle blowing organisation was only notified 24 hours before the hearing and was unable to hire a lawyer in the terms demanded by the law
By Aurélio Muianga
Maputo (MOZTIMES) – On Tuesday 24 February, at the eighth criminal section of the Maputo City Law Court, the first hearing was held in case no. 303/SIC/2025, in which the Public Prosecutor’s Office is accusing three Turkish businesspeople resident in Maputo of forging documents in order to acquire Mozambican citizenship.
They are Hakan Aleattin Yalçin, Devrin Sahutoglu and Semseddin Gaznevi, all of whom work in real estate.
The case was publicly denounced in 2023 by the anti-corruption NGO, the Centre for Public Integrity (CIP).
Tuesday’s hearing was marked by criticisms made by the judge in the case, Cláudia Barros, against the Public Prosecutor’s Office. Among other matters, the judge claimed that the case had been badly drawn up by the Central Office for the Fight against Corruption (GCCC), which is a body of the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
The judge noted, for example, that among the public officials accused of corruption there is nobody who works in the Civil Registry services, which is where it is supposed that the birth certificates forged to grant Mozambican citizenship to the three Turkish businesspeople were issued.
"We cannot be afraid of doing justice, but the judge cannot chase after what is not in the case file. The decision of the judge must be balanced with what is in the case file”, declared Judge Cláudia Barros. She added that “in Criminal Law, there is no deduction, just the proof of the facts”.
The judge explained that, after receiving the charge sheet, she ordered the GCCC to correct it, but so far the GCCC has not returned the case file to the court. The judge therefore considered the case “null and void”, noting that “there are two cases about the same matter against the same accused”.
MOZTIMES has ascertained that this situation concerns the fact that two cases have been drawn up by two different bodies, but both of which are part of the Public Prosecutor’s Office. One case file was drawn up by the GCCC, which is responsible for investigating and charging crimes of corruption. The other case was drawn up by the Central Office for the Fight Against Organised and Transnational Crime (GCCCOT). This is the body responsible for taking action against crimes related with terrorism, money laundering, kidnapping, trafficking in persons and in human body parts, illegal immigration and international trafficking in drugs and weapons, as well as crimes related with State security
Judge Cláudia Barros said “to avoid breaking the law” she rejected the case drawn up by the GCCC. To continue the trial, she based the proceedings on the facts stated in the report of the Interministerial Commission of Inquiry (CII) headed by the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional and Religious Matters (MJACR), set up in 2023 to assess the denunciation of the purchase of nationality by Turkish citizens.
The judge also argued that the case drawn up by the GCCC did not reflect what is contained in the report of the commission of inquiry. She noted, for example, that there are no charges against staff of the Central Registry Office who illegally issued certificates granting Mozambican nationality to Turkish citizens.
"The trial of this case does not solve the root of the problem. How is it that DIC staff are being charged, when they only received documents authorised by other people to capture data?”, asked the judge.
DIC staff claim innocence
The Tuesday hearing lasted from 11.00 to 16.00. In the dock were two Turkish businesspeople, Hakan Aleattin Yalçin and Devrin Sahutoglu. The co-accused Semseddin Gaznevi, also of Turkish nationality, is being tried in absentia, since he is a fugitive. It is said that he is in the Portuguese capital, Lisbon.
Also in the dock were six staff of the Civil Identification Services, namely Diogo Euler General, Sérgio Júlio Ubisse, Lemos Alfredo Matavele Júnior, Samira Raul Nhari, Alegria Justino Quive and Zélia Filipe Sitoe. All are charged with the crime of corruption through the falsification of identity documents in favour of the Turkish businesspeople.
The accused are assisted by a defence team of nine lawyers, including Ibraimo Ali, the lawyer for Hakan Hakan Aleattin Yalçin and Devrin Sahutoglu, and Rui Alfixa, the lawyer for Dio Euler General.
The accused Zélia Sitoe and Alegria Quive declared that, at the time of the facts, they were working in the capture of data at the Maputo City Civil Identification (DIC). They explained that they intervened in the issuing of identity cards (BI) for various foreign citizens who had become Mozambicans by naturalisation, but not of the co-accused in the case now being tried.
They explained that, when issuing a BI for naturalised Mozambicans, the applicant should present several documents, including the certificate proving acquisition of Mozambican nationality, birth certificate, spouse’s identification document (in cases where the acquisition of nationality is based on marriage), and the official gazette (Boletim da República) which includes the granting of Mozambican nationality.
The documents of the applicants enter the DIC and, before the BI is issued, this institution obtains confirmation from the Central Registry Office which is responsible for issuing nationality acquisition certificates. When the authenticity of the certificate is confirmed, the DIC contacts the holder of the documents and returns them directly so that he takes them for data capture before the issuing of the BI.
The two accused stated that, whenever they issued BIs for naturalised Mozambicans, they followed the normal legal procedures. Hence, they declared that they are innocent of the crimes of which they are charged.
For her part, Samira Nhari said she worked at the DIC Secretariat and dealt with various documents. She explained that, in her duties, she processed documents which have nothing to do with requests for confirmation of authenticity and that she did not attend to any Turkish citizen in the capture of data.
All the accused said they do not know the co-accused named in the records, identified as Hélio Fijamo, but who did not appear at the trial.
However, MOZTIMES knows that Fijamo was head of the Maputo City Identification Services and thus the hierarchical superior of the DIC staff who were on trial on Tuesday.
Diogo General, the only DIC official who was detained in connection with this case, admitted in court that he captured the data for the issuing of a BI for a citizen of Nigerian nationality, identified in the records as Mira. He explained that the data were captured at the Mafuiane post, in Namaacha district, because that foreigner (not charged under the current case) presented the documents required by law for the issuing of a Mozambican BI.
Diogo General was arrested on the order of the Maputo City Law Court (TJCM), signed by judge Barros. His lawyer, Rui Alfixa, appealed to the Maputo Higher Appeals Court, and the accused was released, subject to a Statement of Identity and Residence (TIR). He is now answering the charges in freedom.
According to the charges in the case drawn up by the GCCC, Diogo General was found with a copy of a BI receipt on his cell phone, and with an exchange of messages about the sending of money for unclear purposes. The holder of the BI was not identified.
General is the only accused among the public officials who is not back at his post, due to a decision taken by the Higher Appeals Court. All the other co-accused in the case are continuing to exercise their duties normally.
Turks denounce alleged harassment by police and immigration agents
For their part, the two Turkish citizens told the court they have been living in Mozambique for about 15 years and that they are investors in real estate.
MOZTIMES knows that Hakan Aleattin Yalçin works as a manager in the Deco Aços condominium, located on the Maputo city coast road (Avenida Marginal), where some of the accused in the case of the hidden debts purchased apartments, including the former director of economic intelligence in the State Information and Security Service (SISE), António Carlos do Rosário.
Hakan Aleattin Yalçin and Devrin Sahutoglu told the court that during their detention in August 2025, their mobile phones were confiscated and were only returned to them three months later. The judge remarked that there was no need to confiscate the mobile phones of the accused since these do not prove the falsification of documents.
However, it is possible to find in the cell phones information that proves alleged bribes to officials who sold Mozambican citizenship documents,
The Turkish accused also alleged that, two weeks after their release on payment of bail, agents of the Maputo Provincial Immigration Directorate detained them again for three days, allegedly for lack of documents authorising them to reside in Mozambique.
Devrin Sahutoglu also told the court that a week ago he was intercepted in the street by the authorities who demanded to see his identification document. Asked by the court whether, with this alleged harassment, he would not rather return to his own country, Sahutoglu replied that he would prefer continuing to live in Mozambique, where he runs his investments.
Many Turkish citizens who invest in real estate in Mozambique are harassed by the regime of Turkish President Recep Erdogan, accused of participating in, or supporting, the attempted coup d’etat supposedly orchestrated by the Islamist cleric, Fethullah Gulen, in 2016.
For this reason, they are unable to return to their country or request the renewal of identification documents through the Turkish consular services in Maputo.
The Turkish government has been putting pressure on the Mozambican authorities to arrest and extradite or deport Turkish citizens regarded as supporters of Gulen.
Hearing interrupted for lack of duly authorised CIP lawyer
The case of the purchase of Mozambican nationality by Turkish businesspeople was denounced by CIP in 2023. CIP denounced the case formally to the GCCC, and constituted itself as a legal assistant to accompany and intervene in the case, including the right to appeal against decisions.
However, at Tuesday’s hearing, the judge declared that CIP did not duly hire a lawyer to intervene in the case in the capacity of a legal assistant.
Citing Article 348, paragraph 4, of the Penal Procedural Code, the judge interrupted the hearing and set a new date, so that the lawyer Bruno de Almeida, legal representative of CIP (in his capacity as Assistant) would have time to present a power of attorney to the court, and be briefed on the case
The judge also said that the previous lawyers indicated to represent CIP, in the same case, owe legal fees which should have been paid to the court. She said this is the case with Edson Fernando Pereira and Ali Momede. The judge explained that this fact also prevents the current lawyer for CIP from intervening in the case.
The judge regretted that the first and second hearings of the case were delayed due to the absence of CIP in its capacity as assistant. It is suspected that the notifications were not duly delivered to CIP which is shown by the absence of the organisation’s stamp.
MOZTIMES found that, for the Tuesday hearing, CIP was notified 24 hours in advance and did not have enough time to submit the lawyer’s power of attorney to the court. Although the power of attorney was obtained during the session, the document was not appended to the case file. The trial has been scheduled to resume on 3 March. (AM)
