According to information released this Tuesday by the Ministry of the Interior, two temples were seized in the municipality of Cuito and one in Andulo, province of Bié, and the property was sealed.
On 28 and 29 September had already been seized six temples of the UCKG, in Caxito, detour of Barra, Açucareira, Sassa Povoação and Panguila, in the municipality of Dande, Bengo province, in compliance with the warrant issued by the PGR.
The entrance doors were sealed to prevent the faithful from having access to the temples for worship.
During the operation, objects such as 1279 plastic and wooden chairs, 23 fire extinguishers, 15 air conditioners, 7 labels with logos of the Universal Church, two mixing tables and an amplifier, 23 file folders, a generator, a water tank and eight bank deposit vouchers worth a total of 343,645 kwanzas were seized.
The court ordered the closure and seizure of all the temples of the UCKG in Angola, and the sealing process is being done gradually.
On September 19, the day religious services were resumed in Luanda, a province that remains under sanitary fence due to the covid-19 pandemic, the closure of the temples of Kilamba, Estalagem, Km 30 and Samba, in the capital, was received with surprise by the UCKG, which at the time released a statement saying that the agents were not "equipped with any mandate or supporting documentation.
According to the UCKG in Angola, which classified the police operation as "disproportionate and excessive," these temples were not part of the seven buildings seized by the Attorney General's Office in August.
The UCKG claimed that the police acted "in a truculent and excessive manner, curtailing the members and faithful who, at the time, were exercising their right to freedom of worship" and stressed that there was no legal impediment or judicial mandate to prevent worship in those temples, "because they were not seized or sealed by the Attorney General's Office".
In August, the PGR seized seven temples of the UCKG in Luanda (Alvalade, Maculusso, Morro Bento, Patriota, Benfica, Cazenga and Viana), as part of a criminal case for alleged crimes of criminal association, tax fraud and illegal export of capital.
The UCKG has been involved in several controversies in Angola, after a group of dissidents withdrew from the Brazilian leadership in November last year.
Tensions escalated in June with the reformist wing taking over temples, meanwhile forming a Commission for the Reform of Angolan Pastors, with an exchange of mutual accusations of committing illicit acts.
The Angolans, led by Bishop Valente Bezerra, claim that the decision to break with the Brazilian representation in Angola headed by Bishop Honorilton Gonçalves, faithful to the founder Edir Macedo, was due to practices contrary to religion, such as the demand for the practice of vasectomy, chemical castration, racism, social discrimination, abuse of authority, and the evasion of foreign currency abroad.
The allegations are denied by the UCKG Angola, which in turn accuses dissidents of "xenophobic attacks" and aggressions to shepherds and has also brought legal proceedings against the dissidents.
The UCKG Angola has previously accused the Angolan judicial authorities of having made illegal seizures and attempted to attack religious freedom. At this moment, several judicial processes related to the sect are underway in the Angolan courts.
The conflict has led to the opening of criminal cases in the OPG and has risen to the diplomatic sphere, with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro asking his counterpart João Lourenço for guarantees of protection of pastors and the Church's heritage, and the Angolan head of state has promised an "appropriate treatment" of the matter in justice.
