Maputo - A court in Mozambique on Tuesday acquitted six men of the 1999 attempted murder of prominent Mozambican lawyer Albano Silva, who is also Prime Minister Luisa Diogo's husband.

The Maputo City Court acquitted the men over a lack of evidence that alleged attack had ever taken place. Three of the accused in the case are already serving lengthy prison sentences for their part in the November 2000 murder of investigative journalist Carlos Cardoso.

The prosecution had claimed that the alleged attempt on Silva's life was connected to Cardoso's assassination, which followed his investigations into corruption surrounding the privatization of Mozambique's biggest commercial bank, BCM.

Silva had alleged the attack took place on November 29, 1999 as he was driving home through the capital Maputo.

He said a car drew up alongside his and someone in the front passenger seat fired a shot through the lawyer's open window that narrowly missed him and exited through the rear passenger window.

The defence had argued that, in the absence of any photographic or ballistic evidence of the attack, there was no evidence the attack ever took place. (dpa)