Ethiopia: Government re-opens treason trial of 4 newspaper publishers

The Ethiopian government has re-opened the trial of four major newspaper publishers in connection with the 2005 post-election violence in the East African nation.

The ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Front (EPRDF) has successfully lodged an appeal against the Ethiopian Supreme Court's decision to pardon the four publishers, Siday, Zekarias, Fasil and Serkalem, in connection with the 2005 elections.

Ethiopia is gearing for elections in 2010, expected to put another challenge to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's 19-year long rule.

The EPRDF remains a solid political outfit and is expected to remain steadfast during the upcoming polls.

The incumbent Prime Minister is expected to run again for election following EPRDF decision to elongate his term by another five years after the party failed to appoint a new party leader to succeed him.

The Ethiopian government has decided to pursue the case against the publishers/journalists who have been banned from writing or publishing over the 2005 disputed elections.

The Ethiopian Supreme Court, complying with the pleas lodged by government representatives, summoned the four publishing houses to appear before its criminal bench on 4 December.

The government is appealing a Federal court ruling which established that the publishing houses had been pardoned by the President in accordance with the law and the public pronouncements of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in 2007, despite the government's denial of such claims.

The publishing houses had been penalised with heavy fines in the post-election treason trial of 2005.

A petition filed by the government to the same court is also seeking to 'freeze all liquid and fixed assets' of the defendants.

In its four-page petition to the Supreme Court, the Ministry of Finance and Development, which is representing the government, specified that it was acting at the behest of the Ministry of Justice.

Thirteen newspapers, the entire genre of Ethiopia's free press, were closed down in the immediate aftermath of the post-election riots in 2005 and to date, incredibly, none has returned despite the 2007 release of all journalists by pardon, which the government is now denying.

- December 2, 2009 by PANA (Pan African News Agency)

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Source: www.afriquejet.com/news/africa-news/ethiopian-government-re-opens-treason-trial-of-4-newspaper-publishers-2009120339417.html (accessed on 7.12. 2009)