Kenyan starvation cult leader on trial for manslaughter

Paul Mackenzie, a Kenyan cult leader accused of inciting hundreds of his followers to starve to death, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter charges. Mackenzie was arrested last April after 429 bodies, including those of children, were exhumed from mass graves in the remote Shakahola forest, about a two-hour drive west of Malindi town.

Most of the bodies showed signs of starvation and assault. The self-proclaimed pastor Mackenzie appeared in court in the coastal city of Mombasa on Monday alongside 94 other suspects, according to the BBC. This incident is one of the worst cult-related mass deaths to date, and prosecutors have stated that it is unprecedented in Kenya.

Authorities have stated that Mackenzie and the other defendants will be prosecuted under a law relating to suicide pacts. He allegedly told his followers that they would go to heaven faster if they stopped eating. Survivors have claimed that Mackenzie ordered children to fast first, followed by unmarried women, then men, and finally the church leaders.

Mackenzie also faces two other charges, namely suspected child abuse and terrorism offenses, which he denies. He promoted formal education as being satanic and used this to extort money. In 2017 and 2018, he was arrested for encouraging children not to go to school, claiming that education was "not recognized in the Bible." He is also accused of encouraging mothers to avoid medical care during childbirth and not to vaccinate their children.

Last November, Mackenzie was convicted and sentenced to one year in prison for illegally operating a film studio associated with his preaching and for distributing films without a valid filming license.