Pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, accused of “terrorism”, “torture”, “cruelty” to children and “involuntary manslaughter”, will also be tried for the murder of 191 followers of his evangelical sect, a court announced on Tuesday, February 6 from southeastern Kenya.
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The case of the “Shakahola massacre” has been shaking Kenya for months, and the charges against Paul Nthenge Mackenzie are multiplying. Already prosecuted for “terrorism”, “torture” and “cruelty” to children, as well as “involuntary manslaughter”the pastor will also be tried for the “murder” of 191 followers of his evangelical sect, as announced by a court on Tuesday, February 6.
A total of 429 bodies were found in the Shakahola forest, where he preached fasting to death to “meet Jesus” before the end of the world, which he predicted would occur in August 2023.
The self-proclaimed pastor and 29 other defendants pleaded not guilty to “murder” charges, an AFP journalist confirmed, during an appearance in a court in the city of Malindi, ten months after the revelation of this case that shocked Kenya. , a predominantly Christian country in East Africa.
One of the defendants was declared mentally unfit to stand trial after undergoing psychiatric tests.
Some 238 more cases of “involuntary manslaughter”
Paul Nthenge Mackenzie had already pleaded not guilty to the previous charges brought against him, including “facilitation of the commission of a terrorist act”, “possession of an item in relation to an offense under the Terrorism Prevention Act”, “participation in organized criminal activity” and “radicalization”, formally pronounced January 18; those of “involuntary manslaughter”, on January 23, and those of “torture” and “cruelty” towards minors, on January 25.
Of the 429 deaths recorded, 191 cases have been considered “murder” and 238, “involuntary manslaughter.”
This former taxi driver turned pastor has been detained since April 14, a day after the first victims were discovered in the Shakahola forest.
The four aspects of the accusation – terrorism, crimes against minors, murder and manslaughter – have been distributed among four courts, three in Mombasa and one in the city of Malindi. The courts have not yet decided whether the case will be heard in one trial or in four.
“Police and judicial rulings”
Following searches carried out since April 2023 in Shakahola, a vast area of ”bush” on the Kenyan coast, 429 bodies were exhumed, some of which had been buried for several years. Autopsies revealed that most of the victims had died of starvation. Some, including children, had been strangled, beaten or suffocated.
The revelation of this scandal, dubbed the “Shakahola massacre”, made the Kenyan authorities subject to criticism for not having prevented the actions of the pastor, who had been arrested several times for his extremist preaching. In a report published in October, a Senate commission pointed out “failures” by the Justice and Police, alerted in 2017 and 2019.
In July, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki described “the Shakahola massacre (as) the worst attack on security in the history” of Kenyaand promised to “press tirelessly for legal reforms to tame dishonest preachers.”
The case has reignited debate over the regulation of religious worship in Kenya. President William Ruto, a fervent Protestant supported by evangelical circles when he was elected in August 2022, has created a working group to “review the legal and regulatory framework governing religious organizations.”
But previous attempts at regulation have met with fierce opposition, especially in the name of religious freedom.
The Government has announced that the Shakahola forest will be transformed into a “place of memory”, so that “Kenyans and the world do not forget what happened.”
With AFP
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