Kenyan justice announced on Tuesday that it would prosecute Pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie for "terrorism" after the death of 109 people in a forest in southeastern Kenya where members of his sect met.
He is accused of pushing his followers of his International Church of Good News to starve 'to meet Jesus' in Shakahola Forest, a case that has sparked fear and misunderstanding in the religious East African country. .
The former taxi driver turned pastor appeared in a Malindi city court on Tuesday alongside eight co-defendants. He appeared calm, dressed in a pink and black sports jacket, a pink shirt and brown pants, an AFP journalist noted.
At the end of the hearing, he was transferred to Mombasa, the country's second city about 100 kilometers away, where there is "a court authorized to deal with cases under the Prevention of Terrorism Act", said prosecutor Vivian Kambaga.
At the end of April, after the discovery of the first dozen corpses in this case, Kenyan President William Ruto had promised measures against those who "use religion to advance a shady and unacceptable ideology", comparing them to "terrorists".
Another pastor, the country's most famous, Ezekiel Odero, is due to appear in court in Mombasa on Tuesday.
The court must rule on a request by prosecutors to keep him in detention for 30 days while they investigate his possible involvement in what is now called the "Shakahola Forest massacre".
According to the prosecution, "there is credible information linking the bodies exhumed (...) in Shakahola" to "several innocent and vulnerable followers (of the Odero church) who are said to have died".
His lawyers denounce an unfounded detention. "No evidence has been brought. (...) So far there is no complaint" against Ezekiel Odero in this case, declared to the press one of the lawyers, Cliff Ombeta, in front of the court where were brought together a few dozen faithful, praying and singing.
The discovery of more than a hundred bodies, the majority of them children, in the Shakahola forest has shaken Kenya for several weeks.
This assessment is still provisional, the search operations for mass graves not having been completed in this forest on the Kenyan coast, where followers of Pastor Mackenzie followed his precepts of fasting until death while awaiting the coming of Jesus.
Many of the victims found appear to have starved to death. But initial autopsies carried out on Monday on a dozen bodies also revealed two deaths by asphyxiation.
The arrest of the wealthy and famous televangelist Ezekiel Odero has also drawn a new trail in this case: the victims may not all be members of the International Church of Good News.
This televangelist, who leads his church called Prayer Center and Church of New Life, is notably targeted by investigations for "murder", "assisted suicide", "kidnapping", "radicalization", "crimes against humanity", "cruelty to children" and "fraud and money laundering".
"The police have established that several murders took place in the compound of the Ministry of New Life" in Mavueni, not far from Malindi, write the prosecutors in a document consulted Friday by AFP.
Investigators also want to verify information that "after the death of the innocent and vulnerable worshipers (of Odero), their bodies were kept in a private morgue (...) before being transported and buried in the forest of Shakahola ".
This scandal has revived the debate on the supervision of worship in Kenya, a predominantly Christian country which has 4,000 "churches", according to official figures.
Previous attempts at regulation have met with strong opposition, particularly in the name of freedom of worship.
A "presidential task force" on this subject is to be launched this week, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki announced on Monday.
The authorities are also under fire for not having prevented the actions of Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, who was arrested several times for his extreme preaching.
02/05/2023 12:09:56 - Malindi (Kenya) (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
