Ethiopia lifts death penalty for over 20 former Derg officials
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By Tesfa-Alem Tekle
June2, 2011 (ADDIS ABABA) - The Ethiopian government withdrew death
sentences for over 23 senior officials from the Derg military regime
that ran the East African country from .
JPEG - 11.6 kb
Ethiopian President Girma Woldegiorgis (LIFE)
Ethiopian President, Girma Woldegiorgis, on Wednesday announced the
clemency at an occasion held in the National Palace, where he said the
death sentences against the former Derg members would be lifted and
reduced to life imprisonment.
The Derg, a committee of military officers, ruled the country from
1974 until 1987 executing and imprisoning tens of thousands of its
opponents without trial. Despite officially dispanding in 1987 the
Derg’s leader Mengistu Hailemariam remained president until he was
deposed by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front
(EPRDF) in 1991.
Over the past few years, a group of the Ethiopian religious leaders
and other influential figures have been lobbying the government for
the pardon of the former Derg officials who were sentenced to death on
charges of genocide.
At the occasion President, Girma Woldegiorgis said the move was in
response to subject’s submitted request for pardon and to close the
dark historical chapter and open a new spirit of national unity.
The decision was made effective from May 28, 2011, the day Ethiopia
ruling EPRDF party marked the 20th anniversary of the downfall of a
17- year rule of the former Marxist-Leninist regime.
The pardon grant does not include to the former Ethiopian president,
Mengistu Hailemariam, who led the horn of Africa country with an iron
fist from 1977 until the junta was overthrown in 1991.
Mengistu who currently lives in exile in Zimbabwe, under the
protection of President Robert Mugabe, was sentenced to death in
absentia three years ago.
The former Derg officials had been found guilty of genocide, mass
murder, torture and other brutal activities against innocent people
and have been in prison for almost 20 years now. According to
Ethiopian law, life imprisonment means a sentence of at least 25 years
behind bars.
(ST)
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