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ETHIOPIA: Trial of opposition
activists adjourned again |
ADDIS ABABA,
20 February (IRIN) - The Federal High Court
in Ethiopia has once again adjourned the
trial of 111 opposition activists and
journalists, including more than 70
defendants who have been held in custody
since November 2005 on charges of
instigating unrest to overthrow the
government.
Federal High Court Judge Adil Ahmed on
Monday adjourned the trial until 5 March,
saying a speech allegedly made by one of the
defendants - the leader of the country's
main opposition party, the Coalition for
Unity and Democracy (CUD), Hailu Shawl - in
the US Congress before his arrest needed to
be translated from English into Amharic,
Ethiopia's official language.
The trial has been adjourned several times
before.
Seventy-eight of the accused were in court
on Monday. Twenty-five are being tried in
absentia because they are in exile.
Some of the defendants - 54 CUD officials
and 15 journalists - face charges of
attempting to "overthrow the constitutional
order through violence" and "outrages
against the constitution". Other charges
include high treason and attempted genocide,
which are capital offences under Ethiopian
law.
The accused were arrested in a crackdown in
November 2005 against the independent media,
opposition politicians and civil and human
rights activists after the disputed
elections in May that year, which returned
the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary
Democratic Front of Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi to power. During demonstrations
called by the opposition against alleged
poll rigging in June and November 2005, 193
protesters were killed by security forces
and thousands of people were arrested.
The detentions sparked international concern
over the state of democracy in Ethiopia.
Amnesty International described those on
trial as "prisoners of conscience". |
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