Kenya court orders 'shallow graves' exhumed in starvation cult county

Nairobi: A Kenyan court granted police permission on Wednesday to exhume several shallow graves discovered in the same county as an infamous starvat...

Nairobi: A Kenyan court granted police permission on Wednesday to exhume several "shallow graves" discovered in the same county as an infamous starvation cult that came to light in the east African nation in 2023.

More than 400 people died in one of the world's worst cult-related tragedies, which became known as the "Shakahola Forest Massacre", discovered inland from the Indian Ocean town of Malindi.

The case rocked the country and made headlines globally, with the self-proclaimed pastor at the centre of the case currently on trial in the coastal city of Mombasa. He has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts of manslaughter.

On Wednesday, a court in nearby Malindi gave the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) the go-ahead for the exhumation of several bodies "believed to be buried in shallow graves" near the town's outskirts.

Prosecutors said in a statement that "investigators suspect multiple individuals were murdered through starvation and suffocation... as a result of adopting and promoting extreme religious ideologies."