(AFP) — An Ethiopian rights group on Thursday accused [Woyanne] government security forces of widespread human rights violations, including arbitrary detentions, torture and killings.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO) issued a statement alleging that 17 people had been killed and 201 others held without charge by security forces in several regions over the past four months alone.

“We urge the government to respect ratified international conventions and refrain from violating such rights,” Tesfaye Desalegn, the independent group’s spokesman told AFP on the phone.

“We want the prevalence of justice in Ethiopia, we call on the international community to put pressure in order to avoid such circumstances,” he added.

EHRCO said some of the deaths from police torture and beatings. It added that 38 of the 201 arrested people had already been released.

The rights group said most cases occured in the Oromia region, the largest and most populous state in Ethiopia, where the secessionist rebel Oromo Liberation Front has waged a sporadic guerrilla against the government for more than two decades.

Government security forces were also accused of torturing, injuring, and destroying properties of dozens of others in different states including the Amhara, and Somali — or Ogaden — regions and in the capital.

The Ethiopian government Woyanne was not immediately available for comment.