Over 300 dead in Jesus Christ starvation sect in Kenya
The number of suspected Christian sect members who fasted to death in a southern Kenyan forest to see Jesus Christ has risen to 303 after authorities found nineteen bodies Tuesday, police said.
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How many victims have been found dead so far?
Rhoda Onyancha, Kenya's Coast regional police commissioner, confirmed the figures, which have been recorded since exhumations in the Shakahola forest, now in their third phase, began in April.
In statements published by local media, Onyancha said the number of those rescued alive stands at 95.
"Those (alive) identified by relatives are 19, while those reported missing are 613," Onyancha added.
So far, 35 suspects have been arrested in connection with the so-called 'Shakahola massacre'.
On Monday, a total of 65 victims rescued from the forest appeared in court in Shanzu, in the southern coastal city of Mombasa, for allegedly attempting suicide by refusing to eat at a rescue centre.
The prosecution filed an application to remand them in custody as the rescue centre can no longer hold them.
"It is in prison that they will undergo mental and medical evaluation and will be forced to eat. They have now become suspects in attempted suicide," the prosecution explained.
Almost all of the dead from the "Shakahola massacre" have been exhumed from graves and mass graves in that forest, except for a few who died in hospital because of their serious condition.
Autopsies of more than a hundred bodies showed that while all showed signs of starvation, the bodies of at least three minors and one adult also bore traces of strangulation and suffocation.
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What is the cause of death for most of the victims?
Initial police investigations suggest that the worshippers were forced to continue the fast even if they wanted to abandon it.
"I am afraid we have many more (mass) graves in this forest, and therefore it leads us to conclude that this was a highly organised crime. I assure the country that the government will do whatever it takes to disrupt this organised criminal activity," Home Affairs Minister Kithure Kindiki said in Shakahola last May.