Kenyan justice announced this Tuesday, May 2 that it would prosecute for “terrorism” Pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, after the death of 109 people in a forest in southeastern Kenya where members of his sect were meeting.
He is accused of starving his followers of his International Church of Good News “to meet Jesus” in the forest of Shakahola, a case that has caused fear and misunderstanding in this religious country of East Africa.
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This former taxi driver turned pastor appeared on Tuesday in a court in the city of Malindi, 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 second largest city in the country about a hundred kilometers away, where “a court empowered to deal with cases under the Prevention of Terrorism Act”said prosecutor Vivian Kambaga.
Originally a political promise
At the end of April, after the discovery of the first dozen bodies in this case, Kenyan President William Ruto promised action against those who “use religion to advance a shady and unacceptable ideology”comparing them to “terrorists”.
Another pastor, the most famous in the country, Ezekiel Odero, is due to appear in court in Mombasa on Tuesday.
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Deadly fasting, self-proclaimed “pastor”… What we know about the Shakahola forest massacre in Kenya
The court must rule on a request from prosecutors to keep him in detention for 30 days, the time to carry out investigations into his possible involvement in what is now called the “Shakahola Forest Massacre”.
According to the prosecution, “there is credible information linking the exhumed bodies (…) to Shakahola” To “several innocent and vulnerable followers (of the Odero church) who have allegedly died”.
His lawyers denounce an unfounded detention. “No evidence has been provided. (…) So far there are no complaints” against Ezekiel Odero in this case, one of the lawyers, Cliff Ombeta, told the press in front of the court where a few dozen worshipers were gathered, praying and singing.
A balance sheet that could increase
The discovery of more than a hundred bodies, the majority of them children, in the Shakahola forest has shaken Kenya for several weeks.
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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 Paul Nthenge 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 lead 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 New Life Church, is notably targeted by investigations for “murder”, “assisted suicide”, ” removal “, “radicalization”, “crimes against humanity “, “cruelty towards children and “fraud and money laundering ».
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“The police have established that several murders have indeed taken place within the premises 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. »
Towards a regulation of worship?
This scandal has revived the debate on the supervision of worship in Kenya, a predominantly Christian country with 4,000 “churches”according to official figures.
Previous attempts at regulation have met with strong opposition, particularly in the name of freedom of worship.
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And “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.
