(FILE) Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Ntenge Mackenzie gestures as he speaks to other defendants during his appearance at Malindi Court in Malindi on January 17, 2024. The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult goes on trial on July 8, 2024, on terrorism charges over the deaths of more than 400 followers in a macabre incident that shocked the country and the world. Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Ntenge Mackenzie appeared in court in the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa along with 94 co-defendants, an AFP reporter said. (AFP photo)
MOMBASA, Kenya (AFP) — The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult went on trial Monday on terrorism charges over the deaths of more than 400 followers in a macabre attack that shocked the world.
Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Ntenge Mackenzie appeared in court in the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa along with 94 co-defendants, AFP reporters said.
Journalists were removed from the courtroom shortly after the hearing began to allow protected witnesses to take the stand.
McKenzie, who was arrested in April last year, is accused of inciting his followers to starve to death in order to “meet Jesus”.
He and his co-defendants pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges at their trial in January.
They also face charges of murder, manslaughter, kidnapping and child torture and abuse in separate cases.
More than 440 bodies have so far been exhumed in the remote wilderness just inside the Indian Ocean town of Malindi in what has become known as the “Shakahora Forest Massacre.”
Autopsies revealed that the primary cause of death was starvation, but some of the victims, including children, had been strangled, beaten or suffocated to death.
Previous court documents also said organs had been removed from some of the bodies.
McKenzie, a former taxi driver, handed himself in on April 14 after a tip-off led police to Shakahola Forest, where they first discovered the mass grave.
Authorities began releasing some of the victims’ remains to grieving families in March after months of painstaking work using DNA to identify them.
Questions have been raised about how McKenzie, a self-described pastor with a history of extremism, managed to evade law enforcement despite his high-profile record and past legal cases.
Interior Minister Kitule Kindiki last year accused Kenyan police of inadequately investigating initial reports of famine.
“The Shakahola massacre was the worst security breach in the history of our country,” he told a Senate committee hearing, vowing to “ruthlessly pursue legal reform to crack down on unscrupulous preachers.”
In March, the state-backed Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR) criticised security forces in Malindi for “gross dereliction of duty and negligence”.
Following this horrific incident, President William Ruto vowed to intervene in Kenya’s domestic religious movement.
In Christian-majority Kenya, the case also highlights failed efforts to rein in unscrupulous churches and cults that have turned to criminal activity.
