In the closing arguments, the defense asked for acquittal because it considered that the allegations against the defendants were not proven, in a session that started almost an hour and a half late.
The judge also intended for the questions to be produced, but as it ended a few minutes after 7 pm, it was scheduled for the 25th of this month, with the reading of the sentence expected to take place on March 10th.
At the session, the Public Prosecutor's Office said that there was no doubt that the defendants Honorilton Gonçalves, at the time the spiritual leader of the UCKG in Angola, of Brazilian nationality, the pastors, Brazilian, Fernando Teixeira, and Angolan, Belo Kifua, committed the crimes of criminal association, fraud for fraud, money laundering, illicit expatriation of capital and domestic violence of the psychological and physical type.
For another case attached to the main one, in which Cremilda Domingos is offended, a member of the UCKG for over 20 years who complains of having been coerced into donating 129 million kwanzas and a vehicle to the church, the Public Ministry also asked for the conviction of the defendants Honorilton Gonçalves and Bishop António Ferraz, for the crime of fraud by fraud.
In turn, assistant lawyer David Mendes lamented the "deliberate" absence from the country of Bishop Honorilton Gonçalves, asking the court to condemn the defendants, with sentences ranging from two to ten years in prison, arguing that "there can be no contemplations".
"We would like the leader of this whole plot to be present, because Bishop Honorilton fled from Angolan justice and for a person who feels free from any criminal imputation, a person who is aware that he did nothing voluntarily should be here, but did not create an expedient to run away," he said.
According to David Mendes, the measure is not enough to be a direct punishment for the defendants, but it has to be general prevention, to "send a serious message that to religious leaders, who make false promises, false miracles", as well as to the State that allows the publicizing these promises in the media, arguing that "this theater in the press has to end".
The defense argued that the process is riddled with irregularities and ends as it began, with "generalities and abstraction".
For the defense, the Public Prosecutor's Office did not prove any of the crimes against the defendants, considering the accusation "a collection of generalities and abstraction", without anything being determined, "so the allegations produced should be considered without effect".
The defense also regretted that the Public Ministry refrained from indicating the penalties to be applied to the defendants, alleging the lack of credibility of the witnesses and deponents listed by the prosecution, taking into account that they are an interested party in the process.
In November 2019, a group of more than 300 Angolan pastors from the UCKG signed a manifesto in which they renounced to integrate the church, created in Brazil by Bishop Edir Macedo, with the Brazilian leadership, leading to the separation of the religious organization.
In the manifesto, the Brazilian leadership was accused of acts of racism, tax evasion, mandatory vasectomy procedure.
Following the mutual accusations, the Angolan justice system opened a case and ordered the closure of the temples, accusing bishops and pastors of crimes of criminal association, tax fraud, illegal exploitation of capital, with the trial of this case taking place in Luanda since the 18th November 2021.
In 2020, INAR legitimized Bishop Valente Bezerra Luís as the representative of the UCKG in Angola and in February 2021, he was elected in the general assembly leader of the UCKG Angola, putting an end to the reform commission.
This direction is considered illegitimate by the direction of Bishop Alberto Segunda, elected in May 2021 as the new spiritual leader and general priest of the UCKG in Angola, replacing the Brazilian Bishop Honorilton Gonçalves, who is on trial, with co-defendants António Miguel Ferraz, vice president, and pastors Belo Kifua Miguel (Angolan) and Fernandes Henriques Teixeira (Brazilian).
