A doomsday cult chief whom the Kenyan authorities say ordered his congregants to starve themselves to loss of life was charged on Tuesday, together with 29 others, with the homicide of 191 youngsters — in a case that has drawn world consideration and introduced widespread scrutiny over non secular freedoms within the East African nation.
The choice, by a court docket within the coastal city of Malindi, was handed down virtually a month after a decide ordered that the cult chief, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, and the others who’re accused endure psychological well being evaluations earlier than dealing with any costs.
Only one of many suspects was deemed mentally unfit to face trial. Mr. Mackenzie, a pastor, and the opposite defendants pleaded not responsible and are scheduled to look earlier than the court docket on March 7 for a bond listening to. They are accused of killing the kids from January 2021 to September 2023, in keeping with the prosecution.
Mr. Mackenzie, carrying a striped black-and-white polo shirt, stood alongside the others accused in a packed courtroom on Tuesday. He was seen whispering to the opposite defendants and, at one level, consulting his attorneys, in keeping with video broadcast on tv. Armed cops have been stationed inside and outdoors the courtroom premises.
Since final April, a whole lot of our bodies have been exhumed from the 800-acre Shakahola Forest, the place Mr. Mackenzie and his followers lived, with many buried in shallow graves. Dozens of different followers have been rescued, however a whole lot extra are lacking, in keeping with native officers.
The nation’s inside minister, Kithure Kindiki, final week declared the pastor’s church, Good News International Ministries, “an organized criminal group.”
Mr. Mackenzie was a taxi driver who reinvented himself as an evangelical pastor about 20 years in the past. As his congregation grew, the authorities stated, he urged followers to convene within the Shakahola Forest as a sanctuary from what he claimed was the fast-approaching apocalypse. As he preached that the world was about to finish, officers say lots of his followers starved themselves to loss of life. Mr. Mackenzie denies telling them to take action.
In April, the police uncovered dozens of our bodies from graves within the forest related to the pastor. The revelations rapidly gripped the nation, with many questioning why safety and intelligence officers didn’t detect the disappearances of victims early on.
President William Ruto, an evangelical Christian, in contrast the episode to “terrorism” and appointed a fee to analyze the deaths.
Mr. Kindiki, the inside minister, stated the forest could be become a nationwide memorial “so that Kenyans and the world do not forget what happened here.”
But from the outset, group activists and human rights teams reproached the federal government, urging officers to offer the survivors and the victims’ households with monetary compensation.
The case has additionally run into many roadblocks, with victims’ households and activists saying that the authorized course of is transferring too slowly. Some of the cult members have refused to eat whereas staying at a rescue middle and needed to be given psychiatric and psychological well being assist. And among the attorneys representing Mr. Mackenzie and his co-defendants additionally pulled out of the case final June, citing frustration with the federal government over the period of time they got to seek the advice of and put together their shoppers.
Mohamed Ahmed contributed reporting from Mombasa, Kenya.
Source: www.nytimes.com