While the police continue to dig the ocher earth of the Shakahola forest in search of bodies, the pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie appeared on Tuesday May 2 before the judges of the court of Malindi, on the coast of Kenya. Dressed in a pink and black sports outfit, the 51-year-old man has a calm look; he is however prosecuted for “terrorism” by the Kenyan justice. At the end of the hearing, the trial was transferred to Mombasa, the second city of the country, where the court empowered to deal with acts of terrorism will open the file on Friday.
The evangelist hides in silence but the excavations continue in Shakahola, located two hours by road from Malindi, where this pastor built his church (Good News International Church, “International Church of the Good News”) and his farm . It is in this 300-hectare wood, which now looks like a huge mass grave, that 110 bodies have been dug up since April 21. Survivors continue to be found, unconscious, exhausted. On Tuesday two more women were saved.
The search was suspended for a time to unclog the Malindi morgue, which is overflowing with bodies. They have now resumed and several plots are still excavated when the rains stop. The Kenya Red Cross estimates the number of missing people at 410. Half would be children.
Extreme fasting to “meet Jesus”
The first autopsies carried out on Monday reveal what all of Kenya feared. The first ten bodies “had features of starvation”assures the head of the national services of forensic medicine, doctor Johansen Oduor.
Radical preacher, Paul Nthenge Mackenzie predicted the end of the world for June 2023. In order to “Meet Jesus” before that, he advocated extreme fasting to his parishioners, which proved fatal. “There was no food in the stomachs, the layer of fat was very thin [sur les corps] »according to the medical examiner.
Today facing justice alongside eight co-defendants, Paul Mackenzie is the subject of multiple investigations: murder, assisted suicide, kidnapping, radicalization, crimes against humanity, cruelty to children, fraud and money laundering. . “These are facts of terrorism! », was violently carried away the president of the Republic of Kenya, William Ruto, about the drama. Faced with the excitement aroused by this sordid massacre in the East African nation, the head of state promises the establishment of a presidential commission.
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