Defence hearings at Mengistu trial

An Ethiopian court trying former Marxist ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam and his supporters on genocide charges began hearing defence witnesses on Tuesday. Judge Medhin Kiros ruled that the defence witnesses could begin giving evidence for the first time in the nine-year-old trials of the military junta leader and his top officials. Some 37 senior officials appeared in court to answer 209 charges that they were responsible for the infamous red terror campaign unleashed in the 1970s. They could face the death penalty if convicted. Some 10 people have already been sentenced to death for their part in the terror campaigns. Thousands of people – many political opponents – are believed to have been killed in the campaign that began with the ousting of Emperor Haile Selassie. Mengistu, who fled to Zimbabwe after his overthrow in 1991, is being tried with dozens of supporters accused of crimes against humanity during his 17-year iron-fisted rule. Former Ethiopian premier Fikre Selassie Wogderesse and Mengistu’s vice-president Fissiha Desta were among the 37 who appeared in court. Although now greying, the men – who were seized in 1991 - appeared to be healthy and were well dressed. The trials, some of the longest in history, have been criticised by international human rights organisations for the length of time they have taken. Special prosecutor Joseph Kiros told journalists that 106 of the alleged architects of Mengistu’s regime have been charged. Mengistu and 25 others are being tried in absentia, he said at the hearing, while 43 others had died either before or during the trials. Relatives of the defendants and of the victims sat in silence during the three-hour hearing at a specially convened courtroom in Addis Ababa. Diplomats also observed the proceedings which opened under tight security.