Solomon Yimsegan, chairman of a revolutionary guard...

Solomon Yimsegan, chairman of a revolutionary guard squad in Addis Ababa during Mengistu's "Red Terror" period that followed the overthrow of emperor Haile Selassie, was sentenced to death for his role in the killing of 13 inmates and the torture of 51 between 1977 and 1979. Mengistu, who faced charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, was in exile in Zimbabwe. The presiding judge who sentenced Solomon to death said the killing and torture of the inmates had been a "premeditated and brutal act." Ethiopia has since 1994 been conducting trials of people accused of genocide and crimes against humanity, particularly during the Red Terror period, when tens of thousands of Ethiopians were killed or disappeared.