ESAT (November 27, 2015)
A manhunt was underway to pursue and kill four suspects after an unknown person killed a security officer in Kuhar Kebele, Wereta, Fogera Wereda, Gondar, ESAT’s sources said.
As the manhunt continued, government officials gave a shoot to kill orders to the police. On the run are Mengaw Alamir, Belachew Wudu, Muluneh Muche and Gedamu Belay.
The security officer was reportedly killed while he was confiscating guns from farmers as part of a government campaign to disarm gun owners, most of whom were farmers.
The report said, the victim was awarded twice for his role in disarming gun owners in the Wereda
The home of Mengaw Alamir was pillaged and later turned to ruins, the report said.
Authorities suspect the alleged killers were members of Patriotic Ginbot 7, an armed resistance group that opposes the government in Addis Ababa. The public in the Woreda and even some members of the police, however, were speaking against the extra judicial killings by the authorities in Gondar.
In related news, sources told ESAT that eight young adults who were arrested for being members of opposition parties, at Merawi town, West Gojam, were severely beaten by regime’s security forces.
The young adults were arrested on November 14, 2015. Two of the detainees, Mekuanint Tsegaye and Eyayu Meta, were members of the opposition Blue Party, whereas Abrham Tesfawas was a member of the ruling party.
Shibabaw Yenealem is brother of Fasil Yenealem, ESAT’s journalist who is currently in exile in Amesterdam, Netherlands. Other detainees, Habtamu Tilahun, Zelalem Motbaynore and Aregawim Meta, said they did not have any affiliation with any party or organization, according to ESAT’s sources.
Eyewitnesses said the suspects were severely bruised from the beatings at a TPLF dungeon called Tabia 9, located in the city of Bahirdar.
The homes of the detainees were reportedly searched, sources said.
On November 19, 2015, the court ordered the police to relocate the detainees to a prison located in Bahirdar city; however, it was learnt that the police kept them in Tabia 9, a notorious torture prison, against the order of the court.
The detainees were severely beaten for five days for exposing police brutality and their mistreatment to the court, sources disclosed.
It was indicated that the detainees were asked to renounce their allegiance to opposition parties and instead support the ruling party.
Police could not present evidence of the alleged crimes the detainees committed; yet the detainees would remain in custody till they appear in court on December 24, 2015.
In the Amhara region, more than 60 youth from Merawi and its vicinity were arrested and detained in Bahirdar city. Most of them were accused on trumped up charges of being supporters of Ginbot 7 Movement for Freedom and Democracy, which is outlawed by the government.
In a related news, a police officer who was shot dead last week by rebel farmers in Shebel Berenta, East Gojjam was buried with full honor at Anshebina Zuchr, reports showed. Police and militia were present during the burial ceremony. Local farmers were also forced to attend the funeral.
ESAT reported earlier in the month that fighting between Ethiopian government soldiers and rebel farmers broke out in Shebel Berenta, East Gojam, and Amhara regional state after regional police and militia ambushed the farmers who were gathered to celebrate St. Micheal’s religious festival.
ESAT last week reported that the commander-in-chief of the Woreda police, Abatyihun Asres, and two farmers were killed in a fire exchange and two more soldiers were severely injured.
Deep-rooted corruption and maladministration reportedly made the farmers launch an armed resistance against the system, sources indicated.
Detention, intimidation, harassment and extrajudicial killings of dissidents and opposition party sympathizers has intensely continued in Amhara, Oromia and several other cities across the country.
Ethiopian and international human rights organizations, on several similar instances, have reported on the magnitude of the crimes against humanity and gross violations of human rights committed by the Ethiopian regime forces in Amhara, Oromia, Gambella and Somali regions.
The Ethiopian government has never admitted it had committed human rights violations in these regions.
Source: http://ethsat.com/manhunt-underway-in-gondar-as-police-arrest-60-in-merawi/