Paul Mackenzie and 94 others charged over deaths of followers whose our bodies have been exhumed from the Shakahola forest.
A Kenyan court docket has charged cult chief Paul Mackenzie with “terrorism”-related crimes over the deaths of 429 of his followers.
The self-proclaimed pastor was charged together with 94 others on Thursday over the deaths of followers whose our bodies have been exhumed from the Shakahola forest close to the Indian Ocean.
Mackenzie was arrested final April after the our bodies started being found.
The fees, introduced throughout an look earlier than a court docket within the southeastern metropolis of Mombasa, are the primary to be introduced in opposition to him.
Mackenzie and his co-defendants denied the fees throughout their look earlier than the decide, Joe Omido. They’re due again in court docket on February 8 for a bond listening to.
Authorities allege that Mackenzie, the top of the Good Information Worldwide Church, incited his acolytes in southeastern Kenya to starve themselves and their kids to demise so they may go to heaven earlier than the world ended.
The our bodies of the victims have been uncovered over months of exhumations throughout tens of hundreds of acres of forest.
Autopsies revealed that almost all had died of starvation. However others, together with kids, appeared to have been strangled, overwhelmed or suffocated.
‘Organised criminal group’
Courtroom paperwork cited by the APF information company described Good Information Worldwide Ministries as “an organised criminal group (which) engaged in organised criminal activities thereby endangering lives and leading to the death of 429 members and followers”.
Mackenzie was additionally charged with “organised criminal activity”, AFP reported, and he and the opposite suspects pleaded “not guilty” to expenses of radicalisation.
Mackenzie’s pre-trial detention in Mombasa was prolonged on a number of events because the prosecution requested for extra time to probe the case.
However final week a court docket warned the authorities that it will launch the previous taxi driver until expenses have been filed inside 14 days.
On Wednesday, a decide in a unique court docket within the coastal city of Malindi ordered that Mackenzie and 30 of his associates be taken for psychological well being evaluations earlier than being charged with homicide in reference to 191 deaths.
Prosecutors in Mombasa and Malindi say they may also cost the 95 individuals on counts of manslaughter and torture.
The grisly case, dubbed the “Shakahola forest massacre”, prompted Kenya’s authorities to flag up the necessity for tighter management of fringe denominations.
The cult chief had been arrested earlier than in 2019, additionally in relation to the deaths of youngsters, however was launched on bond. The instances are nonetheless in court docket.