By Barry Malone
Gen. Asaminew Tsige is one of the 41 suspects who are in jail without charge in Ethiopia
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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (Reuters) – A group accused of plotting to overthrow the Ethiopian regime were remanded in custody on Monday again after spending more than one month in prison without any charges or visitation rights, relatives said.
Ethiopian Woyanne regime security forces are holding 41 former and current army personnel from a “terror network” the government says was formed by Berhanu Nega, an opposition leader now teaching economics at a university in the United States.
“They will be held for another two weeks,” a relative who did not want to be named told Reuters outside the court in Addis Ababa. “They were not even charged today.”
The 41 are accused of planning to assassinate senior government figures and blow up public utilities to provoke street protests and overthrow the government.
“The investigation was now complete,” one lawyer said.
Security forces killed about 200 protesters after parliamentary elections in 2005 when the opposition disputed the victory of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s government.
More than 100 relatives and supporters were gathered outside the courtroom. Ethiopian authorities have named only two of the prisoners despite calls from international rights groups that they name and charge all 41 detainees.
Neither family members nor lawyers have been able to visit the accused in prison, relatives said.