Kenya declares cult an ‘organized criminal group’ after starvation deaths.

Kenyan authorities took action on Wednesday by outlawing the church led by a religious leader. This leader instructed his followers to deprive themselves and their children of food until death in order to reach heaven, leading to the church being labeled as an organized criminal group.

Paul Mackenzie, the leader of the Good News International Church, is currently facing charges of murder, child torture, and “terrorism” following the discovery last April of hundreds of bodies of his followers who had followed his instructions and starved to death.

In an official document published on Wednesday, Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki officially declared the church as an “organized criminal group.” This declaration opens the door for further investigation and potential prosecution of members who assisted Mackenzie.

Over months of exhumations across thousands of acres in the Shakahola forest near Kenya’s coast, more than 400 bodies were uncovered, marking this as one of the world’s worst cult-related tragedies in recent history.

Prosecutors plan to charge a total of 95 people with offenses including murder, manslaughter, terrorism, and torture. Delays in bringing charges were attributed to the challenging task of locating and exhuming numerous human remains and performing autopsies. Some of Mackenzie’s followers were rescued from the forest in an emaciated state.

Sources familiar with the cult’s activities informed Reuters news agency last year that Mackenzie had planned mass starvation in three phases: first targeting children, followed by women and young men, and ultimately the remaining men.

Before his current legal troubles, Mackenzie had forbidden cult members from sending their children to school and from seeking medical help when ill, labeling such institutions as satanic. In December, Mackenzie received a 12-month sentence for producing and distributing films that were not approved by the Kenya Film Classification Board (KFCB).