Kenyan authorities on Tuesday began releasing the bodies of victims of a doomsday starvation cult to distraught relatives.

The operation comes almost a year since the discovery of mass graves near the Indian Ocean town of Malindi in a grisly case that shocked the world.

"It is a relief that we finally have the bodies but it is also disheartening that they are only skeletons," William Ponda told the AFP news agency, saying he has lost his mother, brother, sister-in-law and nephew in the tragedy.

They are the first bodies to be handed over to their relatives for burial after months of painstaking work to identify them using DNA.

What we know about the 'Shakahola forest massacre'

Hundreds of bodies, including those of children, have been dug up from the shallow mass graves discovered in April last year.

Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie is alleged to have incited his followers to starve to death in order to "meet Jesus."

The death cult has been dubbed the "Shakahola forest massacre".

Mackenzie, a former taxi driver turned preacher, has pleaded not guilty to 191 counts of murder, manslaughter and terrorism. He has also been charged with child torture and cruelty.

Slow process to identify victims

While starvation caused many deaths, some of the bodies, including of children, showed signs of death by asphyxiation, strangulation or bludgeoning, according to government autopsies.

Authorities are using DNA testing to help identify bodies and their families.

Chief government pathologist Johansen Oduor stated that the identification process was slow due to the lack of families claiming the bodies, making it difficult to obtain DNA samples. 

ssa/lo (AFP, Reuters)