Ethiopia: Trial against 131 members of the Opposition

Demonstrators who protested against election fraud are charged with treason

A demonstration against the regime was held in the centre by exiled Ethiopians on Thursday. They want to call attention to the trial of 131 members of the opposition which is going to resume on the 19 of February .The accused are charged with treason and attempt of genocide. They are threatened with the death penalty. Many of them belong to the opposition party Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) After Prime Minister Meles Zenawi got 2/3 of the seats in the 2005 election, many thousand went to the streets in July to protest against election fraud and the delay of the counting. The result was checked but it remained the same. The opposition therefore decided to boycott the parliament. Hereupon the CUD parliamentarians were revoked of their parliamentarian immunity. There were demonstrations again in November. At that time Meles had already declared state of emergency. He took control over the security forces and ordered Paramilitary Units to go against the demonstrators.198 had been killed and about 21000 arrested, including the whole leadership of CUD. Some members of the opposition who were released stated that they were tortured during their imprisonment.

The most prominent human rights defender of Ethiopia Prof Mesfen Woldemariam, Berhanu Nega the elected mayor of Addis Abeba , UN attorney of the international court of justice for Ruanda Yacob Hailemariam are standing trial which is going to resume on the 19 of February. 13 journalists are also on trial. Journalist without Borders is criticizing Ethiopia, with 17 journalists behind bar, being the largest jail for journalist in Africa and third behind China and Cuba worldwide. Critical reporting is no more possible in Ethiopia.