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d to where family members and journalists were already gathered the entrance process took far longer than usual today and the guards were deliberately more rough in their searches it was difficult to find a place to sit and by the time the session began there was not a single seat remaining the prisoners entered soon after looking well and assumed their usual poise of courage strength and defiance the prosecutors followed and then the judges mohammed was absent and it appeared for a moment like the usual delay tactics it was annouced that the prosecutor would give his closing statement and that the nine who had chosen to defend would have the opportunity to present their defense in three days time as they requested a copy of the closing prosecuting statement in order to respond the prosecutor began citing the charges that remained and the penalties assigned to them according to the criminal code the 2nd and 3rd charges we were told carry 15 years imprisonment and 10 15 years respectively the 5th charge carries between 5 25 years imprisonment or depending on the severity of the crime life imprisonment or capital punishment the 1st charge is also punishable by the latter he demanded that because none of the defendants had shown any remorse for the crimes committed in 2005 all must receive the maximum sentence death for some reason just hearing those expected words spoken out loud came as a shock there was complete silence in the courtroom except for the wife of one of the prisoners who let out a strained laugh and was immediately thrown out of the courtroom the prosecution concluded that the agencies charged should also receive the maximum penalty of a birr 500 000 fine and full closure then we all filed out back into the rain posted by mengedegna at 9 12 am 8 comments monday july 2 misc meles is mobilizing the army in case of an eritrean invasion i hate to say it but the propaganda around here sounds similar to the stuff that ushered us into the somalian invasion yikes the next court session is still scheduled for a week from today there is also supposed to be another session three days later in which the prosecuter will appeal the charges that were dropped posted by mengedegna at 4 43 am 4 comments friday june 29 of lies and other things yesterday in parliament the pm gave a pretty dry speech apparently the objectives of this government are peace development and good governance who knew addressing the very real threat of an eritrean invasion right everyone expected him to discuss the negotiations which explains why so many people were actually watching etv at city cafes which was finally kindly raised by an eprdf official nothing like damage control check the ez post here it seems that meles is now trying to pretend that the negotiations were the sole initiative of the shemagles a tradition that he tried to go along with as any proper ethiopian would but of course he reminded us yesterday no actual binding negotiations can take place political or traditional which would interfere with the almighty independence of the court am i allowed to say bullshit on this thing anyway that s all it is and i suppose we should have expected nothing more from him and there was more as reported by ap seems meles is getting a little hostile with the international community and now weilds the moral authority to condemn their appeals as both shameful and wrong according to the dillusional dictator in ethiopia there is nothing that can be resolved as a result of external pressure hmmmm hr2003 is set for mark up a couple of days after the next scheduled court session what a perfect time to demonstrate the magnanimity of the eprdf by sentencing them and then pardoning them just in time but no pressure of course forgive the sarcastic tone of this post i have long lost patience with the transparent antics of the government posted by mengedegna at 4 04 am 7 comments thursday june 28 parliament i still haven t been able to confirm whether meles was in dc yesterday or not though i have heard from numerous sources that professor ephrim is there either way the pm is still scheduled to appear here in parliament later this morning no one seems to know what the session will be about exactly some here are speculating that it would be the perfect time to release the prisoners quietly as all the foreign correspondents will be inside without their mible phones but this seems just another rumor more later posted by mengedegna at 4 00 am 3 comments wednesday june 27 no court session it is two hours before the court session was to begin i just found out that the prisoners will not be appearing before the judges instead those who wished to defend are required to submit documents to the court s record office ______________________ this is just my opinion but things seem to be unravelling pretty fast for the eprdf first the finnd the prisoners guilty of charges so severe they carry a penalty of death all the while continuing secret political negotaitions despite the fact that the final agreement has already been reported by the international press a court session was announced nonetheless to maintain semblance of an independent court suddenly the night before they are to appear the govnment decides to try their luck and blackmail the us state department fascinating seems our dictator has become a bit dillusional and is losing sight of his rank in the global political heirarchy hopefully he is in for a rude awakening i still have some faith in the united states though they have agreed to postpone the bill for two weeks donald payne has not taken kindly to these blatant bullying tactics at least all of this chaos is finally revealing to the world what we knew all along he is deceitful tyrant willing to continually sacrifice his own people for personal gain posted by mengedegna at 4 08 am 9 comments meles in dc i just received word that meles flew to dc yesterday to meet with state officials this is definitely news to us here as the prisoners were unofficially scheduled to appear in court today i will do my best to confirm this and post more later posted by mengedegna at 3 29 am 2 comments tuesday june 26 hr2003 postponed i can t believe that they have decided to postpone bill hr 2003 according to sources as soon as the remaining prisoners signed the negotiation statement mediator professor ephrimim immediately went to the us i am told he will return next weekend insisting that the bill be postponed in order to ensure the release of the prisoners this is truly amazing meles is holding his own people hostage while negotiating with the world s superpower even more remarkable the us seems to be actually negotiating with these tyrants as if the prisoners themselves were american citizens it makes no sense and makes me wonder if the govn t had no intention of releasing the prisoners at all intending to use the agreement as insurance in the face of future condemnation i just received word that tommorrow s court session will be closed to the public and they will be meeting in chambers instead something very unsettling is going on here i will post again when i get more information posted by mengedegna at 2 22 pm 5 comments final day in court everybody is confused over here as to whether the prisoners are in fact scheduled to appear in court on wednesday and even more so in regards to what will be accomplished in this session by law after handing down a verdict the options of the court are limited 1 sentence due to the severity of the crimes with which they have been charged the court must sentence them to death or life in prison 2 pardon this seems highly unlikely as a pardon is primarily reserved for individuals in this case there are 38 defendants and the outcome of this trial may also serve as a precedent for other journalists civil servants and human rights activists imprisoned throughout the country a pardon would also negate the agreement reached through the recent negotiations as a pardon does not erase charges from one s record thus restricting future civil family and professional right 3 amnesty according to the penal code amnesty cancels both the indictment and the sentence and bars or discontinues any prosecution from the moment of its proglamation further the conviction shall be presumed to be non existent and the entry deleted from the police record of the offender there is speculation that the court will choose the latter in an attempt to maintain appearances of an independent judicial system and of course to demonstrate the magnimity of government which seems a little ridiculous considering the behind the scenes negotiations have already been internationally reported i guess we can only wait and see what unfolds i will do my best to keep you updated posted by mengedegna at 3 59 am 2 comments sunday june 24 with no room left to wiggle it seems to me that meles is in a bit of a bind news of the negotiation agreement has already been widely publicized around the world albeit with a sympathetic slant from the us state department and all eyes are on ethiopia he managed to cancel a meeting with the western ambassadors late last week after receiving word that they were planning to issue a strong collective statement condemning the verdict but beyond that i am not sure how much room he has left to wiggle this country is making the news supporters around the world are staging demonstrations and lobbying their heads of state and members of parliament incessantly the frequently divided members of kinijit international seem to be finally co operating here the ambassadors are ready and even the foreign correspondents seem interested the rest of us are eagerly anticipating the day and hour of their release should the prime minister decide to change his mind the public backlash would be immense and so we wait posted by mengedegna at 7 39 am 11 comments saturday june 23 celebration what a cause for celebration i am once again humbled by the incredible sacrifices these people have made for this country we are all eagerly awaiting their release posted by mengedegna at 4 32 am 3 comments thursday june 14 in the wake of the verdict i was wondering why there hasn t yet been any visible reaction to the verdict here in addis some say that the post election momentum is gone and most have forgotten but i know otherwise i know that people still care and will say so as often as they think it safe so why didn t spontaneous protest erupt on monday afternoon well the current crackdown is the 6th that has occurred over the past two years thousands have been imprisoned and countless tortured far more have died than have been reported and in ethiopia today we are forced to learn from this i am ferenj and i too stay inside more and talk less i was reminded today that including those taken during the initial crackdown this means 1 10th of the city s population has been imprisoned at some point during this period immediately following the elections there were dozens of papers to report the fraud the injustice the truth now such outlets are distant memories and news obviously travels slower before one could feel an electric undercurrent of awareness here even as recently as september when the words of dr berhanu gave the most faint hearted among us courage and it didn t matter if there were no demonstrations we knew who our real leaders were there was still hope we wanted peace now it seems people have reverted to a state of learned hopelessness underscored by the increasing american support for this nation s tyrannical ruler what chance do we have as mere pawns in a far greater geopolitical scheme how can we help ourselves if we cannot even gather for public discussion or peaceful demonstration i honestly don t know i do know that violence is not the answer once embraced it cannot be controlled and we will all be at greater risk but beyond that i can t see the way out from here not today anyway posted by mengedegna at 3 34 pm 8 comments tuesday june 12 crackdown continues the crackdown continues today in addis with more arrests it seems a little early for the preemptive crackdown tactics used during the christmas holidays sentencing is almost a month away and to my dismay it seems there were no signs of protest in the city today posted by mengedegna at 6 37 pm 5 comments monday june 11 guilty verdict following a 2 5 hour delay and courtroom chaos all defendants were found guilty as charged those who wished to defend were denied opportunity and charged along with the others sentencing is to take place on july 2 posted by mengedegna at 6 16 pm 3 comments tuesday may 22 viewing of evidence begins on saturday afternoon the political prisoners were not in good spirits they still had not been given access to the transcripts and documents necessary for defense or provided the opportunity to review the videotaped evidence as ordered by the court they have since been shown 2 of the videotapes although there doesn t seem time enough to prepare for the upcoming court date why the delay posted by mengedegna at 3 55 am 2 comments monday may 14 because i said so ethiopia demands un action against eritrea hostages terrorists student protests and then a resounding silence after last month s dramatic exit things seem eerily calm now i had expected a flurry of press releases public statements even a possible escalation in protest action but so far there has been only silence the latter i suspect due largely to the armed federal forces now stationed indefinitely on campus the kidnappers were neatly proclaimed to be agents of the eritrean government by the appropriate ministers and the onlf terrorists we were told were similarly aligned the end this apparently should suffice no further information or evidence required and certainly no mention made of the 100 ethiopian soldiers that died unreported along with the 74 civilians that day or the numerous onlf members that have since been hunted down and killed by ethiopian forces though the lack of public accountability honestly comes as no surprise i find it darkly amusing that the eprdf also tried this same approach with the un security council during thursday s parliament session demanding immediate action against the eritrean government for these recent terrorist acts in ethiopia now i understand all too well that meles runs the show in this country and withholds regulates and fabricates public information at will but it is astounding to me that the eprdf seems to actually expect actors on the world stage to play by their rules as well and meekly accept the exaggerated charges intended to justify meles latest craving for war amazing posted by mengedegna at 6 52 pm 6 comments tuesday may 8 saying goodbye to anthony mitchell the world has lost a talented and courageous journalist ethiopia has lost a friend my deepest condolences to his family his personal integrity and dedication to this region will not be forgotten posted by mengedegna at 3 54 pm 4 comment...
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