March 2, 2005

GENEVA – The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has welcomed the Mozambican authorities' arrest of a suspect in the murder of a Brazilian Lutheran missionary a year ago.

Deaconess Doraci J. Edinger, a missionary from the Evangelical Church of the Lutheran Confession in Brazil (IECLB) to the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mozambique (ELCM) was murdered on 21 February 2004 in Nampula, Mozambique. (See http://www.lutheranworld.org/news/lwi/en/1409.en.html)

In a letter addressed to Mozambique's Minister of Justice, Dr José Ibraimo Abudo today, LWF General Secretary, Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko expresses "appreciation for the progress reflected" in the February 25 arrest of the accused, who is a pastor of the ELCM.

Noko however stresses the LWF's great concern about the duration of the investigation and progress toward a conclusion. "The LWF trusts that the prosecution will now proceed expeditiously and with all proper legal protections for the accused," he writes to the justice minister.

Talking to Lutheran World Information (LWI), Noko reiterated that Edinger's murder over a year ago was a shock and a cause of grief for many in the worldwide LWF family. At certain points the LWF had voiced concerns about apparent delays in the investigation, he explained. "While the evident progress reflected in the arrest on February 25 is therefore something to be appreciated, the fact that the person arrested is a pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mozambique is itself the cause of further grief and distress," he said.

The general secretary pointed out that "the question of guilt or innocence is now a matter for determination by the courts in Mozambique, and we all must await the outcome. In the meantime, we pray for the families both of Sister Doraci and of the pastor arrested in Mozambique in this acutely difficult and painful time."

The LWF member churches in both Mozambique and Brazil have been and continue to be in close cooperation with the investigating authorities, Noko added.

From 1998 until the time of her death last year, 53-year-old Edinger worked at the ELCM within an LWF-supported partnership program. She was reportedly found dead on 23 February 2004 in her apartment in Nampula, 700 km north of the capital Maputo. Police could not clarify the murder at the time.

Lutheran World Information