The “Shakahola massacre” affair has shaken Kenya for months, and the charges against Paul Nthenge Mackenzie are multiplying. Already prosecuted for "terrorism", "torture" and "cruelty" on children as well as "involuntary homicide", the pastor will also be tried for the "assassination" of 191 followers of his evangelical sect, a court announced on Tuesday February 6 .
A total of 429 bodies were found in the Shakahola forest, where he preached to fast unto death to "meet Jesus" before the end of the world which he announced would occur in August 2023.
The self-proclaimed pastor and 29 other defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges of "assassination", noted an AFP journalist during their appearance before a court in the town of Malindi, ten months after the revelation of this affair which shocked Kenya, a predominantly Christian religious country in East Africa.
One person was also judged mentally unfit to be prosecuted, after psychiatric assessments.
Some 238 more cases of “manslaughter”
Paul Nthenge Mackenzie had already pleaded not guilty to previous charges brought against him, including those of "facilitating the commission of a terrorist act", "possession of an article relating to an offense under the Prevention of Terrorism Act" , “participation in organized criminal activity” and “radicalization” formally pronounced on January 18, those of “involuntary homicide” on January 23 and those of “torture” and “cruelty” of children on January 25.
See also Mortal fasting in Kenya: the pastor prosecuted for “terrorism”
Of the 429 deaths recorded, 191 cases involved accusations of “assassination” and 238 of “manslaughter”.
This former taxi driver turned pastor has been in detention since April 14, the day after the discovery of the first victims in the Shakahola forest.
The four parts of the charge – terrorism, crimes against children, murder, manslaughter – were divided between four courts, three in Mombasa and one in the town of Malindi. The courts must decide whether the case will result in a single trial or four.
“Failure” of the police and justice
Research carried out since April 2023 in Shakahola, a vast “bush” area on the Kenyan coast, has made it possible to exhume 429 bodies, some buried for several years. Autopsies revealed that the majority of victims died of starvation. Some, including children, were strangled, beaten or suffocated.
The revelation of this scandal, called the "Shakahola massacre", placed the Kenyan authorities under fire for not having prevented the actions of the pastor, who was nevertheless arrested several times for his extreme preaching. In a report published in October, a senatorial commission pointed to “failings” in the justice system and the police, alerted in 2017 and 2019.
In July, Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki said that "the Shakahola massacre (was) the worst security breach in the history" of Kenya, promising to "press relentlessly for legal reforms to tame the rogue preachers.”
The affair has revived the debate on the supervision of religions in Kenya. President William Ruto, himself a devout Protestant supported by evangelical circles during his election in August 2022, created a working group responsible for “examining the legal and regulatory framework governing religious organizations”.
But previous attempts at regulation have encountered strong opposition, particularly in the name of freedom of worship.
The government announced that the Shakahola forest would be transformed into a "place of memory", "so that Kenyans and the world do not forget what happened".
With AFP
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