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Maputo – A prominent lawyer and academic who was shot dead on Tuesday in Mozambique’s capital Maputo, had recently received threats on Facebook, the country’s prosecution said on Wednesday.

Gilles Cistac, a constitutional law professor at Eduardo Mondlane University who favoured more autonomy for Mozambique’s provinces, was gunned down in broad daylight on a main street in Maputo.

Last week Cistac had filed a complaint after insulting remarks against him by a Facebook user going under the pseudonym “Calado Calachnicov”, Portuguese for “silent Kalashnikov”, prosecution spokesperson Marcelino Vilankulo said.

The anonymous Facebook critic accused him of being a “French spy”.

Cistac, a naturalised Mozambican citizen of French origin, was a frequent contributor to opposition newspaper Canal de Mocambique.

He had been heavily criticised in recent weeks by the government press after defending a proposal by opposition lawmakers to grant the country’s 11 provinces greater autonomy.

The opposition party Renamo and some independent media suggested the ruling Frelimo party was behind the attack.

Renamo leader Afonso Dhlakama described the killing as “heinous” and a “violation of the freedom of expression and opinion”.

“If Frelimo radicals have decided to kill him, thinking that it would demoralise Dhlakama and Renamo, they are mistaken,” said the former rebel chief on television late Tuesday night. —AFP