WASHINGTON – The chairman of a U.S. House subcommittee on Africa has welcomed the release of 38 Ethiopian opposition members and called for the release of all political prisoners in the country.
U.S. Representative Donald Payne issued a statement Friday saying he hopes the release of opposition leaders and activists this week will trigger a new, peaceful democratic process in Ethiopia.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced the release of the prisoners Friday in the capital, Addis Ababa. A three-judge High Court panel had sentenced the group to death Monday.
The charges against them, inciting violence and attempting to overthrow the government, were related to protests against the 2005 elections.
Representative Payne has authored a bill in Congress that calls on the Ethiopian government to release political prisoners and support democratic reforms in the country or face losing U.S. security aid.
Opposition groups say the 2005 election was rigged to keep Mr. Zenawi in power. Ethiopian security forces killed at least 193 people while stopping the protests.
Former Ethiopian President Negasso Gidada says the cases should have never gone to court. He says he views the releases as just another power play by the government.
Several other defendants received prison sentences between 18 months and 18 years. The government has said it would consider clemency appeals for them
Despite pardons, others still face trial in Ethiopia
The pardoning of 38 people by the Ethiopian government does not mean that all the cases stemming from the 2005 election protests have been resolved, according to a VOA report by Joe de Capua.
For example, the NGO ActionAid says Daniel Bekele, its policy manager in Ethiopia, and Netsanet Demissie, general manager of the Organization for Social Justice in Ethiopia, are still on trial. They refused to sign a document admitting wrongdoing.
Richard Miller is the director of ActionAid UK. From London, he spoke to VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua about their cases.
“(They) were charged over 18 months ago as part of this trial with crimes of outrage against the Constitution and constitutional order. They always said they believed their activities were entirely legal and they entered a plea of not guilty from the outset of the court proceedings. They always engaged with the court proceedings, unlike these other people who’ve been pardoned today (Friday). And they’re ready and waiting to present their defense. So they want to demonstrate in court the activities they engaged in were entirely legal and didn’t undermine the Ethiopian constitution, but in fact protected and promoted it,” he says.
The two men refused to sign a document signed by those who were pardoned, admitting the use of “unconstitutional means to change the constitutionally established government functions.”
Miller says, “They didn’t sign because obviously they don’t believe they did that. They believe that any of the activities they were involved in, that’s primarily the work in monitoring the 2005 parliamentary election and their involvement in a civil society initiative to resolve the post-electoral impasse.” He says that those actions were “positive contributions in Ethiopia and were performed in a peaceful and constitutional manner.”
