Ethiopian rebels to hang
2004-02-20 14:26
Addis Ababa - An Ethiopian high court has sentenced to death two members of the rebel Oromo Liberation Front, after they were found guilty of mass murder, state media reported on Thursday.
The two were found guilty by the court on Wednesday of killing 43 innocent civilians in Mugi town in Oromia State, 300km west of the capital Addis Ababa.
"The court jailed another rebel collaborator for 23 years for shooting two innocent civilians to death," Ethiopian News Agency quoted court sources as saying.
The court said the defendants, Fisseha Biresa and Dereje Deme, will be executed by hanging in public, if their execution is approved by Ethiopia's federal president and if they lose their possible appeal.
According to the agency, the court said the convicts committed the crime against the innocent people in "premeditated and brutal acts of terrorism" in 1992 after the rebel movement had quit Ethiopia's Transitional Government that seized power from the regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam a year earlier.