Aníbal dos Santos

Aníbal António "Anibalzinho" dos Santos Júnior (Aníbal dos Santos, born 1971 or 1972) is a Portuguese criminal convicted of masterminding the November 22, 2000, murder of Carlos Cardoso, a journalist investigating bank fraud in Mozambique's Central Bank (BCM). After a first trial in absentia in 2003, one failed and two successful escapes and two extraditions (from South Africa and Canada), dos Santos was sentenced to 30 years imprisonment in January 2006. Dos Santos maintained his innocence throughout the trial. As of April, 2008, dos Santos remained in Mozambican custody and was investigated in another murder case, that of BCM lawyer Albano Silva.

December 7, 2008, dos Santos escaped from a maximum security Maputo jail for a third time. On the next day, the news media reported that dos Santos was arrested 36 hours after escape, but on December 10 a police spokesperson denied these reports, saying that dos Santos was still at large. After eight months at large, in August 2009 dos Santos was recaptured in South Africa.

In November 2000, white Mozambican Carlos Cardoso, 49, editor of the Metical daily newspaper specializing in investigating corruption, was investigating an alleged $14 million fraud at the Central Bank of Mozambique (BCM). On November 22, 2000, nearly 15 minutes after speaking to BBC reporters, he left his Maputo office in a car and was ambushed on the Avenue of the Martyrs by gunmen who blocked his escape routes with two cars. Later, trial judges adopted the version of events that dos Santos was driving the stolen ambush car that overtook Cardoso's Toyota and forced it to the curb; the shots were fired by another suspect. Witnesses said the shooters fired 10 shots, killing Cardoso and injuring his driver. The murder occurred two weeks after 26 people were killed in riots; Cardoso reported on the incident and was highly critical of both leading political parties' actions preceding the clashes. The murder and funeral of Cardoso "produced a rare show of unity among political opponents"; president Joaquim Chissano and opposition leaders vowed to solve the murder.

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