| Related Stories Ethiopia: Free Opposition Members Human Rights Watch Ethiopia Accused of Detaining Activists to Deter Uprising Peter Heinlein (VOA) Ethiopia crackdown on opposition to prevent protest (Afrol News) Ethiopia: 120 senior Oromo officials arrested during OPDO conference (Jimma Times) The UN Committee Against Torture alarmed by severe human rights violations in Ethiopia Human Rights House Birtukan's Release Just a First Step (Human Rights Watch) Room for improvement regarding torture, admits Ethiopia Human Rights House Bekele Jirata Calls for the Release of All Political Prisoners Gadaa Remember Political Prisoners Aberash Berta and Abera Yemaneab SOCEPP Innocence Is Not a Defense for Oromo Political Prisoners in TPLF’s Ethiopia By Tigabu Yilma Ethiopian Court Sentences Oromo Political Prisoners to Death and Long Years in Prison Gadaa Tadesse And Asaminew: Historic Parallels In Search For Justice Within The Systems They Served By Jawar Mohammed |
Ethiopian Politicians on Trial for Terrorism
10 January, 2012 | Peter Heinlein (Voice Of America)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two politicians who had been rising stars in Ethiopia's ethnic Oromo
opposition movement have pleaded “not guilty” to terrorism charges
in Addis Ababa on Monday.
take over following the 2010 electoral disaster, when the opposition
was virtually shut out of parliament. Bekele had been named deputy
chairman and external relations chief for the Oromo Federal
Democratic Movement (OFDM), and Olbana held a similar post in
the Oromo People's Congress.
Bekele, an English instructor at Addis Ababa University, was also
on the executive board of the main opposition bloc Medrek.
The men were arrested last August after meeting with a visiting
delegation from the Amnesty International rights group, which was
later expelled from the country.
Along with seven co-defendants, Bekele and Olbana had also
assisted a BBC news crew that been investigating allegations that
Ethiopia used billions of dollars in development aid as a tool for
political repression. The government strongly denied the report,
calling it irresponsible.
In court Monday, Bekele tried to argue that he had been working
for peaceful change on behalf of what he called "downtrodden
Oromos," who comprise Ethiopia's largest ethnic group. Chief Judge
Endeshaw Adane cut him short, saying the hearing was only for
entering a plea.
Dr. Mogga Frissa, who heads both OFDM and the Medrek
opposition bloc, says the court's handling of the case and the long
delay in bringing defendants to trial constitutes unfair treatment of
Oromos.
"(The) Oromo community is disappointed with this," he says. "They
are oppressed, they have no right of talking, they have no right of
expressing themselves. Every Oromo. They have kept them for
almost [four] months and only today they have asked them if they
are guilty or not, so this shows the Oromos are oppressed."
The trial is scheduled to continue Tuesday at the same high-court
complex where a verdict is due in the case of two journalists also
charged with terrorism. Reeyot Alemu, a columnist with the weekly
paper Fitih [Justice], and Woubshet Taye, deputy editor of the now
defunct Awramba Times, are charged with plotting to sabotage
telephone and electricity lines.
In a third terrorism trial slated to resume later in this week,
opposition politician Andualem Aragie and internet blogger and
political analyst Eskinder Nega are among 30 defendants charged
with conspiring to overthrow Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's
government by violent means. While Eskider and Andualem will be
in the courtroom, most of the defendants are in exile and being tried
in absentia.
All those charged in the three cases have been outspoken critics of
Meles and his ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic
Front, which has been in power for more than 20 years. Human
rights and press freedom groups have accused the EPRDF of using
the terrorism law to silence dissent. The government staunchly
denies the charges.
Two Swedish journalists were convicted on terrorism-related
charges in the same court last month and sentenced to 11 years in
prison. The pair had been arrested in the company of an outlawed
rebel group in Ethiopia's restive Ogaden region.
Courtesy
10 January, 2012 | Peter Heinlein (Voice Of America)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two politicians who had been rising stars in Ethiopia's ethnic Oromo
opposition movement have pleaded “not guilty” to terrorism charges
in Addis Ababa on Monday.
- Bekele Gerba and Olbana
Lelisa appeared in federal
court to hear charges
accusing them of conspiring
to overthrow Ethiopia's
government by force. They
also stand accused of being
recruiters for the Oromo
Liberation Front, an
outlawed separatist group.
- Bekele and Olbana had
been considered among the
take over following the 2010 electoral disaster, when the opposition
was virtually shut out of parliament. Bekele had been named deputy
chairman and external relations chief for the Oromo Federal
Democratic Movement (OFDM), and Olbana held a similar post in
the Oromo People's Congress.
Bekele, an English instructor at Addis Ababa University, was also
on the executive board of the main opposition bloc Medrek.
The men were arrested last August after meeting with a visiting
delegation from the Amnesty International rights group, which was
later expelled from the country.
Along with seven co-defendants, Bekele and Olbana had also
assisted a BBC news crew that been investigating allegations that
Ethiopia used billions of dollars in development aid as a tool for
political repression. The government strongly denied the report,
calling it irresponsible.
In court Monday, Bekele tried to argue that he had been working
for peaceful change on behalf of what he called "downtrodden
Oromos," who comprise Ethiopia's largest ethnic group. Chief Judge
Endeshaw Adane cut him short, saying the hearing was only for
entering a plea.
Dr. Mogga Frissa, who heads both OFDM and the Medrek
opposition bloc, says the court's handling of the case and the long
delay in bringing defendants to trial constitutes unfair treatment of
Oromos.
"(The) Oromo community is disappointed with this," he says. "They
are oppressed, they have no right of talking, they have no right of
expressing themselves. Every Oromo. They have kept them for
almost [four] months and only today they have asked them if they
are guilty or not, so this shows the Oromos are oppressed."
The trial is scheduled to continue Tuesday at the same high-court
complex where a verdict is due in the case of two journalists also
charged with terrorism. Reeyot Alemu, a columnist with the weekly
paper Fitih [Justice], and Woubshet Taye, deputy editor of the now
defunct Awramba Times, are charged with plotting to sabotage
telephone and electricity lines.
In a third terrorism trial slated to resume later in this week,
opposition politician Andualem Aragie and internet blogger and
political analyst Eskinder Nega are among 30 defendants charged
with conspiring to overthrow Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's
government by violent means. While Eskider and Andualem will be
in the courtroom, most of the defendants are in exile and being tried
in absentia.
All those charged in the three cases have been outspoken critics of
Meles and his ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic
Front, which has been in power for more than 20 years. Human
rights and press freedom groups have accused the EPRDF of using
the terrorism law to silence dissent. The government staunchly
denies the charges.
Two Swedish journalists were convicted on terrorism-related
charges in the same court last month and sentenced to 11 years in
prison. The pair had been arrested in the company of an outlawed
rebel group in Ethiopia's restive Ogaden region.
Courtesy
| All rights reserved. |
| Ethio Quest News Together We Can Make It! |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
| Related Stories Ethiopia Charges Opposition Figures, Reporter With Terrorism Peter Heinlein (Voice Of America) Ethiopian detentions target weak opposition DefenceWeb (press release) Ethiopia must end crackdown on government critics Amnesty International Government Critics Detained In Ethiopian Anti-Terror Sweep Peter Heinlein (VOA) Ethiopian Police Arrest Actor Debebe Over Alleged Links to Banned Group William Davison Ethiopia arrests 29 over bomb plots (Aaron Maasho) Ethiopia Detains Two Prominent Opposition Politicians Peter Heinlein (VOA) Ethiopia to charge 121 prisoners with terrorism Barry Malone (Reuters) |
| Ethio Quest News: For latest Ethiopian News, views, Reviews and More |
| Parents of Swedish journalist and accused terrorist Johan Persson with Sweden's ambassador to Ethiopia, right, outside federal court, Addis Ababa, Dec. 21, 2011. |