On November 8, the High Court in Addis Ababa handed...

On November 8, the High Court in Addis Ababa handed down its first death sentence in the mass trial, which began 5 years ago, of thousands of former government officials accused of involvement in the "Red Terror" campaign of former dictator Mengistu Haile-Mariam and the Dergue between 1974 and 1991. Lieutenant Getachew Terba, who received the death penalty, is one of 3,000 people being tried in absentia for crimes against humanity. Over 2,000 more have been held in custody since the early 1990s. He committed the crime at the height of the "Red Terror" campaign. The court said Getachew accused 5 people of being members of an "anti-revolution and anti-people" organization. "Lt. Getachew ordered the imprisonment, torture and later the execution of the 5 people, and that their bodies be thrown on the roadside as a warning to others," the court affirmed. It ordered the authorities to find Getachew and bring him to court for the sentence to be carried out. The slow pace of the trials has alarmed human rights groups.Mengistu fled to Zimbabwe in 1991 just before rebels took Addis Ababa and is currently resident in South Africa.