Malawi: twelve people sentenced in case of an albino killed and dismembered

A Catholic priest was found guilty of having wanted to sell Macdonald Masambuka’s body parts, 22, fell into an ambush in 2018.

Le Monde With AFP

Monday, June 27, a priest was sentenced to thirty years in prison by the Blantyre court in Malawi, in the case of an assassinated albinos, according to a court decision which AFP had copy.

In 2018, relatives Macdonald Masambuka, a 22 -year -old albinos, had promised to present his future wife to him; It was actually an ambush. Killed then dismembered, his bones were then taken to be sold. Twelve people in total were sentenced in this case. Five, including the victim’s brother, who had set up the macabre trap, were in life prison, the maximum sentence.

The murder “was motivated by the disability of the deceased, namely Albinism,” said Judge Dorothy Nyakaunda Kamangadu in her decision. Catholic priest Thomas Muhosha, who directed the parish to which the city of Machinga is attached, a hundred kilometers east of Blantyre, violated the “confidence” of the community, she castigated. He was found guilty of having wanted to sell body parts.

In this poor country of southern Africa, albinos are the targets of attacks. Parts of their body are used in witchcraft rituals, belief that this will bring fortune and health. At least 40 murders and 145 assaults were reported during the wave of violence against the albinos that the country has known since 2014.

/Media reports.