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3 000 detainees face trial
13/12/2005 20:40 - (SA)
Addis Ababa - About 3 000 people detained during violence that rocked Ethiopia last month will face trial for roles in the clashes in which at least 48 people were killed, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said on Tuesday.
In an address to parliament, Meles said the detainees rounded up after unrest in Addis Ababa and outlying towns would be prosecuted for various offences in accordance with the degree of their participation.
"The cases of those in custody are now in the hands of the court and the executive is ready to implement the decision of the court," he said, putting the number to be tried at about 3 000.
It was not immediately clear how Meles arrived at the figure as many more people were arrested during and after the unrest that erupted on November 1 when the opposition called for protests against alleged fraud in the May polls.
According to the federal police, some 14 000 people were detained during and immediately after the riots, many of them opposition political figures, suspected sympathisers and journalists.
Group could be banned
"Those who are not in custody have the choice of running their organisation by denouncing street violence, abandoning politics or reorganising themselves in accordance to the law of the land," Meles said.
Most of the leadership of the main opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), are expected to appear in court for a fourth time on Friday to be formally charged and Meles warned that the group could be banned.
"As the CUD is also accused as an organisation, the fate of the CUD is up to the court to decide," he said.
Meanwhile, an international press freedom watchdog on Tuesday said another two journalists detained in the round-up had been convicted last week of alleged criminal defamation for articles published years earlier.
The jail terms handed down to Getachew Simie, former editor of a defunct Amharic-language weekly, and Leykun Engeda, former publisher of the Dagim Wonchif weekly, bring to at least 15 the number of journalists sentenced for such crimes, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said.
"It is scandalous that Ethiopian authorities have persisted in using outdated and illegitimate charges to send these journalists to jail," CPJ chief Ann Cooper said.
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