The leader of a Kenyan doomsday cult was tried on terrorism charges on Monday after the deaths of over 400 of his followers in a horrific case that rocked the country and the world.
The self-acclaimed preacher Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and 94 co-defendants appeared in court in Mombasa, an Indian Ocean port city.
Journalists were removed from the courtroom shortly after the hearing began so that a protected witness could take the stand.
Mackenzie, who was detained in April of last year, is accused of encouraging his followers to starve themselves to death in order to “meet Jesus.”.
The cult leader and his co-accused all pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges during a January hearing.
They are also charged with murder, manslaughter, kidnapping, and child torture and cruelty in separate cases.
More than 440 people’s bodies have been discovered so far in a lonely wilderness inland from the Indian Ocean coastal town of Malindi, in a case known as the “Shakahola forest massacre.”.
Autopsies on 100 bodies revealed that, while malnutrition appeared to be the leading cause of death, several of the victims, including children, had been strangled, beaten, or suffocated.
Previous court records stated that some of the bodies had their organs removed.
