Pastor who allegedly killed 9 policemen faces trial

The religious leader of a Christian sect, together with 10 of his group's followers, faced trial on Monday for killing nine police officers in Huambo province in 2015.

Preacher Jose Kalupeteka, the spiritual leader of a fringe millenarian Christian sect called "The Light of the World", as well as his followers, were arrested in April last year after members of the group killed nine officers in a raid.

Members of Kalupeteka's church reportedly shot the officers in a raid held by authorities.

According to Charisma News, the raids were conducted against the Christian sect due to their failure to meet the required number of members in order to be recognized by the country.

Angola recently implemented a new rule that only allows Christian church groups with a minimum of 100,000 members, spread across the country's 18 provinces. "The Life of the World" group only has 3,000 members.

UNITA, the country's opposition party, said in a statement that more than 1,000 civilians were killed when authorities and members of the Christian sect clashed last year. However, police denied the claims, stating that only 13 members of the sect died during the encounter.

Defense lawyer of the megachurch pastor and his members, David Mendes, asked the court for a review of the trial, while claiming that his clients were tortured during their time being detained in prison prior to the trial.

Another trial was scheduled this week.