Alternative Africa

Top Menu

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact Us

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business
  • Environment
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Reports
    • Africa-Observers
      • Read Reports
      • Submit a story
  • MORE
    • Health
    • News Now
    • World
    • Technology
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?

Lost Password

Back to login
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact Us

logo

Alternative Africa

  • Home
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business
  • Environment
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Reports
    • Africa-Observers
      • Read Reports
      • Submit a story
  • MORE
    • Health
    • News Now
    • World
    • Technology
  • Eight injured after suspected terrorist attack in Sweden

  • Interpol raises alarm after China, South Africa seize large consignment of fake coronavirus vaccines

  • Rwanda govt turns to power tillers to help small farmers mechanize agriculture

  • Covax floods Africa with vaccines to curtail emerging resurgence of covid-19 virus

  • Covid-19: World Bank readies emergency vaccine fund for 30 African countries

News Now
Home›News Now›Dutch prosecutors demand life for Ethiopian war crimes suspect

Dutch prosecutors demand life for Ethiopian war crimes suspect

By alternativeafrica
November 9, 2017
736
0
Share:

 

 

Eshetu Alemu, 63. Picture drawing courtesy Thijs Bouwknegt‏ @thijsbouwknegt

 The Hague, Nov. 9, 2017 (AltAfrika) – In a rare move, Dutch prosecutors say a Dutch-Ethiopian national should be jailed for life for “an atrocious campaign” of war crimes during Ethiopia’s “Red Terror” in the 1970s.

“The gravity of the crimes and the interest of the victims and their relatives, call for a life sentence,” the prosecution told the trial in The Hague.

Imposing such a sentence on the suspect, Eshetu Alemu, 63, would “also make clear to the international community how serious the alleged conduct of the suspect is”.

Alemu was “responsible for an atrocious campaign” of war crimes “that include arbitrary detention, torture and killing of opponents of the 1970s revolutionary regime in Ethiopia”.

 It “was intended to eradicate all opposition” to the then ruling Marxist-Leninist junta known as the Derg, prosecutors added in a statement.

“The nature and scale of the violence are hard to grasp,” they said, identifying Alemu as a representative for the military regime of former Marxist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in northwestern Gojjam province.

“The case consists of a series of horrors that were purposely inflicted on people. The accused acted as master over life and death,” the prosecutors added.

 ‘Gravity of offences’ 

Alemu has denied four charges of war crimes contained in a 100-page indictment, which includes the names of 321 victims – many of them high-school students.

Among them were 75 people killed in one night in a church in August 1978 whose bodies were then dumped in a mass grave.

But Alemu told the opening of his trial last month that he had never given any orders to execute political opponents.

“I do not recognise the role that has been assigned to me personally,” he said.

“Those who have these crimes on their conscience, can never be allowed to find a safe haven. Not anywhere in the world, and that includes The Netherlands. Even after 40 years,” prosecutors said.

Mengistu ruled Ethiopia from 1977 with an iron fist after the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974. He was then ousted himself in 1991 after a series of revolts.

Alemu came to The Netherlands in the early 1990s and obtained citizenship in 1998. He was sentenced to death in absentia by an Ethiopian court – a sentence which cannot be enforced in The Netherlands.

It is rare for the Dutch prosecution service to demand life imprisonment.

But “sometimes a life sentence is the only punishment that can do justice to the gravity of the offences that were committed,” they said on Wednesday.

The trial will continue next week, with a verdict expected in the second half of December

AFP

SHARE ON:
Previous Article

Viral photo of South Sudanese student lands ...

Next Article

Zanu-PF expels Former Mugabe VP Mnangagwa – ...

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

alternativeafrica

Related articles More from author

  • HealthNews NowWorld

    Useless Tory MP blames Muslims, minority ethic groups for covid-19 surge in England

    August 1, 2020
    By alternativeafrica
  • News Now

    ‘Twice as many die’ in Africa after surgery

    January 4, 2018
    By alternativeafrica
  • AfricaNews Now

    Mugabe’s body arrive home on Wednesday

    September 10, 2019
    By alternativeafrica
  • News Now

    Nigeria police arrest man, 35 for defiling 3 year old girl

    October 18, 2018
    By alternativeafrica
  • News Now

    Kenya boarding school attack leaves six dead

    October 14, 2017
    By alternativeafrica
  • BusinessNews Now

    Nigeria’s visa on arrival policy boosts tourism-Minister

    October 22, 2018
    By alternativeafrica

Leave a reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You might be interested

  • News NowPolitics

    I’m optimistic, Africa can stand on its own-Kagame

  • News NowPolitics

    Eritrean troops withdraw from Ethiopia border – Eritrean Press

  • EnvironmentNews Now

    Botswana: Government may put elephants in cross-hairs as it moves to lift hunting ban

Timeline

  • March 4, 2021

    Eight injured after suspected terrorist attack in Sweden

  • March 4, 2021

    Interpol raises alarm after China, South Africa seize large consignment of fake coronavirus vaccines

  • March 4, 2021

    Rwanda govt turns to power tillers to help small farmers mechanize agriculture

  • March 4, 2021

    Covax floods Africa with vaccines to curtail emerging resurgence of covid-19 virus

  • March 3, 2021

    Covid-19: World Bank readies emergency vaccine fund for 30 African countries

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Lagos govt confirms first case of deadly coronavirus infection in Nigeria

    By alternativeafrica
    February 28, 2020
  • Keynote Address of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at 2018 Oxford Africa Conference

    By PSJ Africa
    May 14, 2018
  • Morocco begins regional integration by connecting Casablanca Airport with High Speed Train

    By alternativeafrica
    January 4, 2020
  • Kenyan govt pressure Facebook for data on Kenyan users

    By alternativeafrica
    November 20, 2019
  • Nigeria: 32,000 capacity Lagos rice mill to start production in 2020

    By alternativeafrica
    December 23, 2019
  • Ado zagi
    on
    January 12, 2021

    Nigeria: EFCC Academy to begin award of degree

    Diploma leave areply from
  • Ethiopia joins Africa's Artificial Intelligence revolution | Alternative Africa
    on
    October 2, 2020

    Spending on Artificial Intelligence Systems in Africa, Middle East to top $374 million in 2020

    […] Many African countries ...
  • The 5 most popular Africans 2020
    on
    September 25, 2020

    Celebrating Congolese doctor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the man behind breakthrough of Ebola cure

    […] Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe ...
  • Millitants in Central Mali Set Jail Ablaze in Attack Killing Two | taktik(z) GDI (Government Defense ...
    on
    August 11, 2020

    Fifteen gendarmes killed in another attack on Mali camp

    […] attack fol­lowed a January ...
  • Millitants in Central Mali Set Jail Ablaze in Attack Killing Two
    on
    August 11, 2020

    Fifteen gendarmes killed in another attack on Mali camp

    […] attack followed a ...
AlternativeAfrica.com is an independent Pan African News Website dedicated primarily to influencing the negative narratives about Africa. We hope to do this by focusing and showcasing the many developmental strides sweeping across the continent.

Read more >>>

Contact Info

  • info@alternativeafrica.com
  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Eight injured after suspected terrorist attack in Sweden

    By alternativeafrica
    March 4, 2021
  • Interpol raises alarm after China, South Africa seize large consignment of fake coronavirus vaccines

    By alternativeafrica
    March 4, 2021
  • Rwanda govt turns to power tillers to help small farmers mechanize agriculture

    By alternativeafrica
    March 4, 2021
  • Covax floods Africa with vaccines to curtail emerging resurgence of covid-19 virus

    By alternativeafrica
    March 4, 2021
  • Lagos govt confirms first case of deadly coronavirus infection in Nigeria

    By alternativeafrica
    February 28, 2020
  • Keynote Address of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at 2018 Oxford Africa Conference

    By PSJ Africa
    May 14, 2018
  • Macron in Ivory Coast to launch anti-terrorism academy

    By alternativeafrica
    December 21, 2019
  • Kenyan govt pressure Facebook for data on Kenyan users

    By alternativeafrica
    November 20, 2019
  • Ado zagi
    on
    January 12, 2021

    Nigeria: EFCC Academy to begin award of degree

    Diploma leave areply from
  • Ethiopia joins Africa's Artificial Intelligence revolution | Alternative Africa
    on
    October 2, 2020

    Spending on Artificial Intelligence Systems in Africa, Middle East to top $374 million in 2020

    […] Many African countries ...
  • The 5 most popular Africans 2020
    on
    September 25, 2020

    Celebrating Congolese doctor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the man behind breakthrough of Ebola cure

    […] Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe ...
  • Millitants in Central Mali Set Jail Ablaze in Attack Killing Two | taktik(z) GDI (Government Defense ...
    on
    August 11, 2020

    Fifteen gendarmes killed in another attack on Mali camp

    […] attack fol­lowed a January ...

Photostream

    Follow us

    • Home
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
    © Copyright Alternative Africa 2019. All rights reserved.