ming was promoting debates that were clearly in favour of Frelimo and its presidential candidate, to the detriment of other political parties and their respective candidates. FREE EXPRESSION ONLINE Citizen charged with defamation over Facebook post In May 2014, high profile economist, Carlos Nuno Castelo-Branco, was summoned to the Public Prosecutor’s office in Maputo to answer questions about an open letter to President Armando Guebuza he wrote and posted on his Facebook page in 2013. Castelo-Branco is facing charges for defamation against the Head of State, which constitutes a crime against the security of the state, in relation to the letter. He posted the letter to his Facebook page in November 2013 and in it he questioned President Guebuza’s governance. The letter was picked up and republished in some newspapers around the country. The session in May was a preliminary hearing, in which the prosecutor asked Castel-Branco if he wrote the letter and whether he had sent it to the media. Castel-Branco’s lawyer, Alice Mabota (chairperson of the Mozambican Human Rights League) argues Castel-Branco did not ‘publish’ the letter, but rather posted it on Facebook and that it is not CastelBranco’s responsibility if media picked it up from Facebook. Mabota says she is not aware of any law in Mozambique prohibiting citizens from discussing ideas with their friends on Facebook. Citizen journalists take to web to report election irregularities The media has traditionally had an im- portant role to play in exposing corruption in Mozambique, so it is perhaps not surprising that with the uptake of social media and mobile technology this role is now also being taken up by citizen journalists. In October 2014, Mozambique held its presidential election, the first in which ruling party Frelimo could be said to be facing a real political challenge since the country’s independence from Portugal in 1975. During the year, the Centre for Public Integrity in Maputo harnessed the power of online and social media, coordinating a small army of citizen reporters to bring to light irregularities in election campaigns and activities across the country. Citizens used email and social media to send photos and news updates to the CIP to publish on their website and in their online newsletter, from which the stories were picked up by the media and reported on. The CIP team would carefully check the information before publishing it, to ensure the journalistic integrity of the project. The project demonstrates the importance of online channels in Mozambique’s media environment and the rise of citizen journalism in the country. Digital migration behind schedule Mozambique’s migration from analog to digital is behind schedule and there is a lack of public information about how the government plans to put the country back on track to meet the deadlines set by by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). There are also concerns over how costs will affect access for most citizens. Even with pressure being brought to bear by civil society organisations, de- So This is Democracy? 2014 47