As Kenyan police continue to exhume bodies from a mass grave discovered last week, authorities are linking these new discoveries to a starvation cult uncovered with the discovery of hundreds of bodies in a forest in 2023 – according to documents exclusively obtained by RFI.
Over the last 10 days, 24 bodies have been exhumed from Kwa Binzaro, a small village near Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast and not far from the Shakahola forest – where 450 bodies were found in 2023.
These were followers of self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie’s Good News International Church.
Mackenzie, a former taxi driver, is alleged to have incited his acolytes to starve to death in order to "meet Jesus" in one of the world's worst cult-related massacres.
Autopsies on the bodies discovered in 2023 found that while starvation appeared to be the main cause of death, some victims – including children– had been strangled, beaten or suffocated. Previous court documents also said that some of the bodies had had their organs removed.
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Police have taken 11 people into custody in connection with the newly discovered graves, although three of them are being treated as victims, investigator Robert Kiinge told French news agency AFP.
According to a sworn statement submitted to the court in Malindi on 22 August, seen by RFI, Alfred Mwatika of the anti-terrorism police said that the 11 people arrested were followers of Mackenzie and had stayed in Shakahola.
According to Mwatika, the suspects recruited followers across Kenya and had funds “to rent houses in Malindi for their victims before they reached Kwa Binzaro".
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Once in the village, the followers were locked up and starved, as per Mackenzie’s instructions.
Mackenzie has been charged with manslaughter and terrorism. His trial in a Mombasa court was adjourned this month, because of new evidence.
(with newswires)
