By Barry Malone
Gen. Asaminew Tsige is one of the 46 suspects charged by Ethiopia’s tribal junta
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ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – A group of men accused of plotting to topple Ethiopia’s government were tortured in prison during lengthy interrogations, relatives said on Monday.
At a pre-trial hearing in Addis Ababa, a judge refused a request from a lawyer for one of the 32 men for a doctor chosen by the families to visit the detainees in prison to compile a report on any injuries.
The arrest of the group in the biggest such crackdown for several years has worried rights group, who say Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s government has become increasingly authoritarian and tough on any critics in the Horn of Africa nation.
Officials say the group planned bombs and assassinations.
At Monday’s hearing, the judge said the group had access to a prison doctor, which was adequate. Some members of the group discussed with the judge how, with their meagre means, they should hire lawyers. A few threw waves and smiles at relatives.
After the hearing, three family members told Reuters suspects had spoken of mistreatment in jail.
“Some of them have been tortured and are injured,” one relative, who asked not to be named, said outside court. “They have been interrogated for up to nineteen hours. One man with injuries to his penis had to be treated in hospital.”
Lawyers said five of the group were being held in solitary confinement. The 32 accused were mainly former and current army personnel, including two generals.
“TERROR” ACCUSATIONS
A Government spokesman said the allegations were “baseless”.
“They have the right to relate any indignities they allege they have suffered openly in court,” Shimeles Kemal said. “If this had been the case, they would have, but they didn’t.”
The government has identified only two of the prisoners despite calls by rights groups to give all the names.
Another 14 people, some resident in the United States and Britain, have been charged in absentia.
The government says the accused, arrested more than a month ago, belonged to a “terror network” formed by Berhanu Nega, an opposition leader who teaches economics in the United States.
Berhanu denies the accusations.
Addis Ababa says the group had planned to kill senior government officials and blow up power and telecommunications facilities to provoke protesters who would then march on government buildings and attempt to topple the government.
Opposition parties have called the charges trumped-up.
Security forces killed about 200 protesters after elections in 2005 when the opposition disputed the government’s victory. The next national election is due in 2010.
Berhanu was elected mayor of the capital Addis Ababa in the 2005 ballot, but was arrested and accused of orchestrating the street protests. He was pardoned and released in 2007.
His “May 15th” organisation was named after the date of the 2005 poll. He has made statements in the United States saying it wants to overthrow Meles’ government.
The Ethiopian government says the plotters received money to buy weapons from Berhanu and other diaspora opposition members.
The accused will appear in court again on June 30th.
(Editing by Matthew Jones)
4 thoughts on “Relatives say Ethiopia’s regime tortured coup suspects”
Have you expected otherwise? This killer regime came to power, remains on power and will remain in power ONLY through flagrant human rights abuse, including torture and extra judicial execution. The evil regime of Meles is known for its brutality on communities (raping women in Oromia and Ogaden) and individuals (all forms of individual rights abuse). The atrocity of the government is well known to human rights groups, both nationally and internationally. The atrocity will stop only if the Nazi regime of Meles is removed.
Sadly, the security forces of the western countries, such as CIA and many others, train the heartless security of TPLF. I guess Woyane is trained on the use of “modern” torture methods. That is part of help we get from the Western world which is committed to “export” democracy to Africa.
Ofcourse they don’t want to risk more abuse if they speak and complain of the mistreatment in the hands of the woyanes.
What would you expect from a frightened but over previleged minority dictatorship other than blind and brutal tortures? Torture is what the Wayane dictatorial rule is an expert at and possesses it in abundnace. Even the whole of that wretched empire is just the one hell of a torture chamber.
So when you are planning to go for the task of an opposion you must think carefully many times before you take any step at any level.
But when you decide to take the steps it must be just as determined as a lion’s or a tiger’s steps.
“Give yourself an even greater challenge than the one you are trying to master and you will develop the powers necessary to overcome the original difficulty.
~William Bennet
Or else your major benfits might remain to be facing tortures even though you might have gained extremly valuable experiences as well incase you might have the chances for the reuse of them.
“We choose to go…not because it is easy, but because it is hard, because that goal will serve to measure and organize the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”
~John F. Kennedy :)
Yes! That is true. Woyane has been doing such inhuman, unthinkable things to Brave, knowledgeable individuals.
The 32 braves knew it before hand. They determined to face it. Even though Woyane chops their flesh like onion, their spirit is beyond woyane. They are the winners.
But everyone of us who oppose woyane, we must know woyane. woyane’s enemity to Ethiopian people is worse than what Gragn Ahmed did to our people 500 years ago. It is incomparable to ‘Talian worera’. These woyane group are so below from any level of the human nature. They made themselves the worst beast in human form.
We will win! Long live General Tefera Mamo, General Asaminew Tsegie, and others. Their names will be engraved in the everlasting mother Ethiopia.