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Police arrested Juan Gregorio Rocha Romero, the church’s evangelical pastor; Esneyda del Socorro Orozco, the clergy member; and three other people in connection with the Feb. 21 attack. Speaking to local press, the pastor denied that he had burned the woman, saying that she decided to burn herself because “she was demonized,” and adding that she had fallen into the fire after a demon had been expelled from her body.

There were a variety of theories on why she was singled out, none of them substantiated by authorities: that she was mentally ill, that she had committed adultery; and that she had attacked people with a machete.

The death of the Trujillo Garcia, a mother of two children, ages two and five, shook the Central American, predominately Catholic country and prompted outrage from human rights activists, who called for tighter control over religious sects in the country.

Vice-President Rosario Murillo called the death “truly regrettable,” adding that it reflected “a backward situation.”

A sister was martyred by members of her community

“A sister who was martyred by members of her community, something that cannot, should not be repeated,” she said.

Pablo Cuevas, a spokesman for Nicaragua’s Human Rights Commission, told the local newspaper La Prensa that in some isolated parts of the country lacking government leadership, “people take justice into their own hands.”

“It is incredible that these things can happen today; there has to be a review by the authorities into all the different denominations and religions,” he said. “We can’t have things like this happening.”