In Kenya, Pastor Paul Mackenzie and his 29 co-defendants must be charged within 14 days or they will be released under certain conditions. This is the decision taken on Tuesday January 9 by the judges of the Shanzu court, in Mombasa. Paul Mackenzie is suspected of killing nearly 430 people while preaching extreme fasting to join Jesus. The prosecutor’s office requested a further postponement of the trial, given the scope of the investigation.
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With our correspondent in Nairobi, Gaëlle Laleix
The provisional detention of defendants “ has been a long journey that needs to be completed », Writes in his judgment the main magistrate in this case, Yusuf Shikanda. The judge recalls that the suspects have already spent 117 days in prison, since the last request for a postponement from the Attorney General’s Office. He therefore considers that the deadline for determining the charges against Paul Mackenzie and his co-defendants has largely passed.
However, the attorney general’s office intended to request 180 additional days to allow investigators to continue their work. During a press conference at the end of November, he insisted on the need to scientifically identify, i.e. by DNA, all the victims found in the mass grave. End of november, 131 remains of children could have been identified. Their links to the accused and the survivors have yet to be determined.
In his judgment, Yusuf Shikanda recalls that the pre-trial detention of Paul Mackenzie and his co-defendants, which began in May 2024, is the longest in the judicial history of the Kenya since the 2010 Constitution. He convenes a hearing on January 23.
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