EKO HOT BLOG reports that Kenya has released the first autopsy results on the bodies found in mass graves linked to a Kenyan pastor suspected of inciting his followers to fast to death.
The results confirmed that starvation was the primary cause of death for most of the victims, although some were also asphyxiated. The autopsies were carried out on more than 100 bodies that were discovered in a coastal forest. Nine children aged one to ten, as well as one woman, were among the victims examined.
According to chief government pathologist Johansen Oduor, “Most of them had features of starvation.” He further stated, “We saw features of people who have not eaten – there was no food in the stomach, the layer of fat was very small.” However, he also noted that two children showed indications of asphyxiation, which could have been caused by smothering.
The cult leader Paul Mackenzie Nthenge is accused of inciting his followers to find God through starvation. The provisional death toll stands at 109, including a small number of people who were found alive but died on their way to the hospital.
The exhumation process was temporarily stopped due to the rain. Investigators will also take DNA samples to help with identification, but the full results may take months. All the bodies are decomposed, making it difficult for pathologists to calculate the time of death.
Nthenge, a former taxi driver, created a Christian-based cult called the Good News International Church. Investigators suspect he has links with a prominent televangelist, Ezekiel Odero, head of the New Life Prayer Centre and Church, who was arrested last Thursday. Odero is suspected of crimes including murder, aiding suicide, abduction, radicalization, crimes against humanity, child cruelty, fraud, and money laundering.
Prosecutor Peter Kiprop said that there was “credible information” linking bodies found in Shakahola forest to the deaths of several “innocent and vulnerable followers” of Odero. Odero and Nthenge share a “history of business investments,” including a television station used to pass “radicalized messages” to followers, Kiprop said in court documents.
The two pastors are currently in detention and are to appear in court in different towns on Tuesday. The newly elected President William Ruto has instructed agencies responsible to “get to the root cause of the activities of people who want to use religion to advance weird, unacceptable ideology.”
He has also announced the formation of a presidential task force to regulate religious activities and prevent criminals from misusing the right to freedom of worship.
More than 4,000 churches are registered in Kenya, which has a Christian majority. However, efforts to regulate and weed out crooks and charlatans through regulation have been thwarted by accusations that this would violate constitutional guarantees for freedom of religion.
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