Ethiopia Court Describes Slaying of Emperor
An Ethiopian court described Wednesday how feudal Emperor Haile Selassie was “strangled in his bed most cruelly” by Marxist usurpers nearly two decades ago.
Survivors of Ethiopia’s royal family say the trials of ousted dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam and 66 of his military deputies that began Tuesday are laying to rest some of the ghosts of the bloody revolution but that the last act in the story is far from over.
Mengistu remains in exile in Zimbabwe and will be tried in absentia. Many of the accused could face the death penalty if found guilty of killing thousands of people.
The emperor’s mysterious death in August, 1975, nearly a year after he was deposed, has long been recorded in popular legend but has never been described officially. The charges allege the execution was ordered in writing by Mengistu’s men.
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