May 5. (EUROPE PRESS) –
A Kenyan court has ordered the release on bail of a famous televangelist after appearing in connection with the deaths of more than a hundred people at the hands of a Christian sect that advocated fasting until death to “know Jesus Christ”, events that have led to the arrest of the leader of the International Church of Good News and have caused a scandal in the African country.
The televangelist, Ezekiel Odero, is being investigated for alleged murder, assisted suicide, kidnapping and money laundering, although the court has indicated that the Prosecutor’s Office has not presented evidence to support his request regarding the need for him to remain in custody while they continue the investigations, according to the Kenyan newspaper ‘The Nation’.
Thus, Odero has been released after paying a bail of three million Kenyan shillings (around 19,930 euros), although he will have to appear once a week before a police station and has been prohibited from making public comments on the case.
The evangelical televangelist admitted last week to the Police that 15 of his followers died during his “spiritual interventions” in his religious center in Malindi, the same municipality where the Kenyan security forces have found more than a hundred bodies in recent days. in mass graves located on the grounds of the aforementioned sect, headed by Paul Mackenzie.
Odero pointed out that the deaths of his followers took place during the year that his Center for Prayer and Church for a New Life has been open in Malindi -closed by the Kenyan authorities in the framework of the investigations-, although his lawyers qualified that the deceased were already “in critical condition” when they arrived at the religious center. “When these people die, the Police are informed of their deaths,” they said.
For his part, Mackenzie was arrested again on Tuesday, minutes after a court ordered his release after closing the case against his terrorism charge, a decision applauded by the families of the victims and civil society organizations. The first autopsies on bodies found in mass graves on land used by the sect in a wooded area in Shakahola, in the Kenyan county of Kilifi, have confirmed that the victims died of starvation, although some were suffocated.
The Kenyan authorities have so far recovered the lifeless bodies of 110 people on these lands, although work continues in the area, so it is not ruled out that the number will continue to increase. The main leaders of the sect urged followers to fast until death under the promise that they will meet Jesus Christ in a new life.
Kenyan President William Ruto has branded Mackenzie a “terrible criminal”, while the Kenya Red Cross has begun work to try to locate about 210 people -including some 110 minors- who have been reported missing in connection with the sect’s activities.
