Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (Reporter) — A military court sentenced six senior army officers to prison terms ranging from 10 to 23 years of rigorous imprisonment on July 24, last month after finding them guilty of charges relating mainly to their involvement with the former Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD).

The Second Bench of the Primary Military Court passed the sentence on Colonel Abebe Asrat, Lieutenant-Colonel Gossaye Bogale, Lieutenant- Colonel Tesfaye Hailu, Lieutenant-Colonel Tesfaye Lemma, Lieutenant- Colonel Getnet Admasu and Captain Kassahun Negussie.

According to the first of the six charges, the military prosecutor brought against the defendants on February 16, 2009, in February 2005 and another undetermined date in the same year they withdrew five Kalashnikov rifles with 300 rounds of bullets and 16 B-52 guns and handed them over in May and June 2005 to unauthorized/unknown persons by themselves and through Ato Bedru Adem, a member of the leadership of the CUD. They were thus accused of transferring army firearms to unauthorized persons and causing harm to the national defense forces.

The second charge accuses the defendants of knowingly participating on an unspecified date in 2005 in an illegal meeting organized by the CUD which was inciting members of the defense forces to engage in mutiny with a view to subvert the constitution and constitutional order through violence. It says during the meeting, the chair, Ato Bedru Adem, told them to cause their subordinates to support the CUD’s objectives and explained to them that as the army played a vital role in bringing down the government they should struggle for this purpose and needed to incite army members to rebellion. The charge alleges that the defendants then expressed their intention to do secretly to do whatever was in their power to help achieve the CUD’s objectives and topple the government.

In the third charge, the second, third and fourth defendants were accused of abusing their power by committing gross neglect of their responsibilities with intent to damage and embezzle government property when they were assigned as committee members to head the army’s ordnance maintenance main section. The charge says the second defendant took home 40 pieces of 28-gauge sheet metal, one grinder, one driller and one generator while the third defendant sold various quantities of apparel, cement and other army properties and pocketed the money himself. It also accuses the three defendants of distributing among themselves the government-issued apparel that had been intended for use by all the staff of the main section.

The remaining three charges concern the third defendant accusing him of causing the loss of four guns which had been given to him by different persons at different times (fourth charge) causing the destruction of military documents, namely the property ledger of the ordnance maintenance main section, by ordering a subordinate to burn it in June 2005, (fifth charge), as well as insulting and intimidating subordinate female soldiers on various occasions with the intent to injure their moral (sixth charge).

After considering the arguments of both the prosecution and the defendants as well as their documentary evidence and testimonies of witnesses, the court found the defendants guilty as charged with the exception of the fourth and fifth charges.

Accordingly, it sentenced the 1st defendant (Colonel Abebe Asrat) to 18 years of rigorous imprisonment. The 2nd defendant (Lt Col. Gossaye Bogale), the 3rd defendant (Lt Col. Tesfaye Hailu), the 4th defendant (Lt Col. Tesfaye Lemma), the 5th defendant (Lt Col. Getnet Admasu) and the sixth defendant (Cap Kassahun Negussie) were given prison terms of 23, 21,16, 10 and 15 years of rigorous imprisonment respectively.

All the defendants have appealed the decision to the Military Appellate Court, it has been learnt.

– The Reporter