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| Version 2 | Version 3 |
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| Mengistu found guilty of genocide | Mengistu found guilty of genocide |
| (10 minutes later) | |
| Ethiopia's ex-Marxist ruler, Mengistu Haile Mariam, has been found guilty of genocide after a 12-year trial. | Ethiopia's ex-Marxist ruler, Mengistu Haile Mariam, has been found guilty of genocide after a 12-year trial. |
| The former leader has been in exile in Zimbabwe since 1991 and was tried in absentia. Eleven co-defendants were also found guilty. | |
| Ethiopia's Federal High Court also found them guilty of imprisonment, homicide and confiscation of property. | Ethiopia's Federal High Court also found them guilty of imprisonment, homicide and confiscation of property. |
| In a notorious campaign - known as the Red Terror - thousands of suspected opponents were rounded up and executed. | |
| Their bodies were then tossed onto the streets. | |
| The judge is not expected to deliver sentences immediately. They could face the death penalty. | The judge is not expected to deliver sentences immediately. They could face the death penalty. |
| Thirty-four members of Mengistu's junta are in court and 27 more are being tried in absentia. | Thirty-four members of Mengistu's junta are in court and 27 more are being tried in absentia. |
| AFRICA HAVE YOUR SAY We should not allow law makers to become law breakers. Being a former president does not make one sacrifice more for the state than the man in the street Besenty Gomez, Kitty Village Send us your comments | AFRICA HAVE YOUR SAY We should not allow law makers to become law breakers. Being a former president does not make one sacrifice more for the state than the man in the street Besenty Gomez, Kitty Village Send us your comments |
| The evidence against Mengistu, who is nearly 70, included signed execution orders, videos of torture sessions and personal testimonies. | |
| Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has so far refused requests to extradite Mengistu to Ethiopia. | Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe has so far refused requests to extradite Mengistu to Ethiopia. |
| Rule | |
| Mengistu was among low-ranking officers who came to power in 1974 when they overthrew Ethiopia's last Emperor, Haile Selassie. | |
| The emperor had failed to come to grips with a poor harvest, and the situation escalated into a devastating famine. | |
| The young officers formed a provisional military committee, known as the Dergue. | |
| Mengistu soon emerged as the leader, shooting a fellow officer who wanted to make peace with the province of Eritrea, which was seeking independence. | |
| In the confusion following the emperor's death the government became embroiled in bitter clashes with students and leftist rivals. | |
| Mengistu responded by brutally suppressing the unrest. | |
| Declaring Ethiopia a Socialist People's Republic, he turned to the Soviet Union, which backed him in fighting an invasion from Somalia. | |
| But the war in Eritrea rumbled on, and rebellion erupted in the province of Tigray. | |
| Moscow re-armed the Ethiopian army, but it gradually crumbled until in 1991 the combined Eritrean and Tigrayan forces were on the outskirts of the capital, Addis Ababa. | |
| Mengistu then fled to Zimbabwe, where his friend, Robert Mugabe gave him sanctuary. |