The bodies are believed to be those of followers of Pastor Paul Mackenzie, who is alleged to have ordered his congregants to starve themselves to death in order to meet Jesus.
The death toll linked to a doomsday cult in Kenya has risen to 201 after police exhumed 22 more bodies, most of them showing signs of starvation
Mackenzie, his wife, and 16 other suspects are due to appear in court at the end of the month, where they will face terrorism-related charges. More than 600 people are still missing, and hundreds of bodies have been dug up from dozens of mass graves on Mackenzie’s 800-acre property, located in the coastal county of Kilifi. Autopsies conducted on over 100 bodies showed that the victims died of starvation, strangulation, suffocation, and blunt force trauma. Local media outlets have also reported cases of missing internal organs among the victims.
Police have been questioning other religious leaders across the country whose teachings are believed to be misleading and contrary to basic human rights. President William Ruto has formed a commission of inquiry to investigate how hundreds of people were lured to their deaths at the coast and to recommend action on institutions that failed to act.
Cults are not uncommon in Kenya, which is a religious society
In the past, Mackenzie had been charged in connection to the deaths of children in his church in a case that is ongoing in court. Residents in the area had raised the alarm after his followers moved to the forested area. It remains unclear how many survivors have been rescued from the search and rescue operations on Mackenzie’s property, with some of them being too weak to walk when they were found.
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