The leader of a Kenyan cult accused of encouraging his followers to starve themselves to death will be charged over a further 52 deaths at another village, prosecutors say.
Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Mackenzie was arrested in 2023 after 429 bodies, including children, were dug up from mass graves in the remote Shakahola forest.
He has been in custody since his arrest and has been accused of luring the latest victims to their deaths by writing notes from his prison cell.
Mackenzie has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of manslaughter.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions said in a statement on X on Monday that it had received the go-ahead to "formally charge Good News International Church leader Paul Nthenge Mackenzie and his co-accused over the deaths of 52 people at the Binzaro homestead in Kilifi County".
