About a hundred people have been waiting since morning for the outcome of the case, increasingly impatient, given the lack of information from the judicial bodies regarding the beginning of the session that will take place at the Court of the District of Luanda (D. Ana Joaquina).
People gathered in the courthouse hall, a space where the lack of air conditioning makes it more difficult to bear the heat that has been felt, starting at 9:00 am, but only at 1:00 pm were they allowed to enter the room, where they continue waiting for the judges.
The defendants, including the former spiritual leader of the church in Angola, Honorilton Gonçalves, currently absent in Brazil, are accused of crimes of criminal association, money laundering and domestic violence.
In the trial, which began on November 18, 2021, the Angolan bishop António Ferraz, the Brazilian pastor Fernandes Teixeira and the Angolan pastor Belo Kifua are co-defendants.
At stake is the division of the IURD in Angola, since 2019, when Angolan bishops and pastors accused Brazilian managers of various crimes, namely money laundering, foreign exchange evasion, vasectomy obligation, as well as racism.
Brazilians accuse Angolan bishops and pastors, who have left the church, of acts of xenophobia and aggression, following the forcible seizure of temples across the country.
The Angolan justice opened the process that is now on trial, closed the temples and invited Brazilian missionaries to leave Angolan territory.
In turn, the Angolan authorities recognized as a legitimate interlocutor with the Government the reformist wing, led by Bishop Valente Bezerra Luís.
