Luanda – The Supreme Court (TS) reduced from 30 to 23 years the sentence imposed on defendant José Julino Kalupeteka, leader of the extinct Seventh-day Adventist Church “A Luz do Mundo”, convicted on April 5, 2016 in the Provincial Court of Huambo.
The decision stems from an appeal filed by the defence of the defendant, led by lawyer David Mendes of Associação Mãos Livres.
This was confirmed by online edition of newspaper “O PAÍS” Tuesday, which cites the ruling of the Case number 1680, of 30 January 2020, 2nd Session of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court as saying.
José Julino Kalupeteka is accused of the crime of qualified homicide against nine National Police (PN) officers, including the former municipal commander of Caála, chief superintendent Evaristo Catumbela, and ex- head of the Information and Security Service (SINSE) of that constituency, José António.
The decision, resulting from the final judgment, acquitted the defendant Gabriel Esperança Justino, who had been sentenced to 27 years, in a group of six faithful of the sect “A Luz do Mundo”.
The sentence of José Kalupeteka and other believers of that sect, already extinct by the Angolan State for operating outside the law, resulted from the skirmishes with National Police personnel, when they tried to persuade the faithful to abandon the religious camp in which they were confined on Mount Sumi, 25 kilometers south of Caála town, to return to their areas of origin.
The convict, who is serving his sentence at the Huambo Penitentiary Unit, after spending the first five years in Luanda and Benguela, was also accused of having committed the crimes of disobedience to the authorities, resistance and illegal possession of a firearm.
José Kalupeteka, a dissident in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, where he was an accomplished composer and instrumentalist of biblical hymns, created his own congregation and preached the doctrine of the Return of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom, having proclaimed the end of the world for 2015.
Source: Angola Press News Agency