MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th October, 2022) Two brothers aged 29 and 40 were violently killed in northeastern Kokoro Province in Papua New Guinea on suspicion of sorcery, the police сhief inspector, Jeffrey Lemb, said on Tuesday.
"It is understood that the two brothers, Philip Auro (the elder brother) and Daniel, were both attacked after being accused of practising sorcery. Philip was decapitated with a bush knife and Daniel was shot in the chest. We are still in the midst of investigating the case," Lemb was quoted by Papua New Guinea's newspaper The National.
The police officer also said that a law enforcement team from Kerema and Malalaua was dispatched to the scene for investigation, according to the report.
"The suspects are unknown at this time. But may have included the whole community," Lemb was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Superstitions widely spread in Papua New Guinea support the culture of witch-hunts. Local glassmen and glassmeries, having the power to accuse women and men of witchcraft and sorcery, make money pretending to have the ability to heal people.
In March 2022, the country's parliament outlawed the practice, but the realization of the measure seems to have failed because the "healers" rarely face the law.
