26 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Kenyan authorities have located eight more bodies on Wednesday in mass graves on the land used by a Christian sect in the north of the country and led by Paul Mackenzie, thus raising the total number of deaths to 98.
According to local authorities, investigative teams have located another eight bodies of children in a wooded area near Mackenzie’s farm in the village of Shakahola in Kilifi county, reports ‘The Nation’.
Mackenzie, arrested in mid-April after the existence of mass graves in the area was confirmed, is being held with thirteen other people ahead of a hearing to be held on May 2. The Prosecutor’s Office has requested time to complete the investigation.
Likewise, the Kenyan Red Cross has begun work to try to locate more than 210 people – including 112 minors – who have been reported missing in the context of investigations into this sect, according to the newspaper ‘The Star’.
Kenyan President William Ruto said Monday that what he saw on the sect’s grounds is “akin to terrorism.” “Mackenzie, who acts as a pastor, is in fact a terrible criminal,” he said, before specifying that “terrorists use religion to further their heinous acts.”
The main leaders of the sect urge adherents to fast until death under the promise that they will meet Jesus in a new life. “This has been a misuse of the fundamental rights of freedom with the alleged use of the Bible to kill and cause a massacre,” denounced the Interior Minister, Kithure Kindiki.
