Ezekiel Odero, one of Kenya's most influential pastors, appeared in court on Friday on suspicion of being linked to the discovery of more than 100 cult deaths in a forest in the southeastern part of the country known as name of "Shakahola massacre".
Kenyan authorities announced on Thursday the arrest of Ezekiel Odero, head of the New Life Prayer Center and Church, as part of an investigation into "the mass murder of his followers ".
The prosecution requested that he be kept in detention for an additional 30 days.
According to court documents consulted on Friday by AFP, this famous televangelist is the subject of investigations in particular within the framework of accusations of "murder", "assisted suicide", "kidnapping", "radicalization", "crimes against 'humanity', 'cruelty against children', 'fraud and money laundering'.
"There is credible information linking the bodies exhumed from the land (...) located in Shakahola" with "several innocent and vulnerable followers (of the church of Odero, editor's note) who would have died", affirms the prosecution in this document.
In addition, "the police established that several assassinations took place in the compound of the Ministry of New Life" in the locality of Mavueni, not far from the coastal town of Malindi, he adds.
Police intelligence also states 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" , it is specified.
Police operations in this forest about 80 kilometers from Malindi revealed the deaths of at least 109 members - the majority of them children - of a sect called the International Church of Good News led by another self-proclaimed pastor, Paul Mackenzie Nthenge.
At least 22 people have been arrested in the investigation into this "massacre", which has sparked horror in the country.
In prison after surrendering to the police on April 14, Paul Mackenzie Nthenge is due to appear in court on May 2.
After an initial visit on Tuesday, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki was on site again on Friday, after the government "intensified search and rescue efforts for people still detained".
The autopsies of the bodies already dug up, scheduled to start on Friday, have not started, Hassan Musa, regional director of the Kenya Red Cross Society, which helps identify the bodies, told AFP.
MM. Odero and Mackenzie are also linked in the context of "financial investments" such as the acquisition by the first of the television channel of the second.
A former fisherman from Lake Victoria who became a "pastor" about fifteen years ago, Ezekiel Odero is known throughout the country.
This wealthy televangelist likes to present himself as "God's chosen one".
He has half a million subscribers on his YouTube channel and draws crowds to his church in Mavueni, which can accommodate up to 40,000 people.
At the "crusades" (gatherings) he organizes, he sells vials of "holy water" and pieces of cloth for 100 shillings (60 cents), which he claims cures all kinds of illnesses, including including HIV.
The wife of Vice President Rigathi Gachagua appeared at his side during one of these "crusades" in December at the Kasarani stadium in the capital Nairobi, the largest in the country (60,000 seats).
After the revelation of the "Shakahola massacre", Kenyan President William Ruto promised action against those "who want to use religion to promote shady and unacceptable ideologies".
But previous attempts to regulate worship in Kenya, a predominantly Christian country with more than 4,000 different "churches", according to official figures, have often aroused strong opposition, in particular in the name of freedom of worship.
This "massacre" also aroused criticism towards the police and judicial authorities.
"Pastor" Mackenzie was indeed arrested in 2017, accused of "radicalization" because he advocated not sending children to school.
He was arrested again in March, after two starving children were killed by their sect-linked parents. He had dismissed the charges and was released on bail.
04/28/2023 13:55:18 - Nairobi (AFP) - © 2023 AFP
