The bodies of eight Christians have been found in a mass grave in Colombia.
The victims had been carrying out humanitarian and spiritual work in the south-central region of Calamar when they disappeared.
The individuals, Isaíd Gómez and his wife Maribel Silva, Carlos Valero, James Caicedo, Jesús Valero, Maryuri Hernández, Nixon Peñalosa and Oscar García had been summoned by an illegal armed group to meetings at the beginning of April. But the group, which all lived in the local hamlet of Agua Bonita and were mainly members of the Evangelical Alliance of Colombia Denomination (DEAC) and the Foursquare Gospel Church (ICCG), never returned.
The persecution charity Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) said that when they never arrived home, their families sought out representatives of the FARC guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. It initially denied that any summonses had been issued, and later indirectly warned them that they should stop looking and "consider the case to be closed".
The grave was discovered after a guerrilla fighter was captured in May, and his mobile phone contained photographs of the detained leaders and, subsequently, of the crime.
In a statement, the Evangelical Confederation of Colombia (CEDECOL) said: "We ask for prayer for peace and consolation to these families; We raise a firm voice of clamour and demand to the authorities so that these crimes do not go unpunished, that progress is made quickly in the investigations and that real guarantees are provided for the protection of the life and integrity of those who exercise spiritual leadership in the most vulnerable regions of the country."
The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, has condemned the killings, saying they are a "grave affront to the right to life, religious freedom, and the spiritual and community work that so many people carry out in regions historically ravaged by violence".
FARC was the largest guerrilla group in Colombia, engaging in a decades-long conflict with the government until a peace agreement was signed in 2016. However, some fighters remained, and there is still violence and territorial disputes between dissidents in some areas of Colombia.