(June 01, 2011, ADDIS ABABA, (Reuters)--Ethiopia said on Wednesday it had commuted the death sentences of 23 of former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam's henchmen convicted of genocide in 2008, reducing the penalties to life imprisonment after an appeal.
Mengistu and dozens of others were sentenced to death for the murder of thousands during a 17-year rule that included famine, war and the "Red Terror" purges of suspected opponents.
The ex-president and his senior officers were convicted after a 12-year trial that ruled Mengistu's government was directly responsible for the deaths of 2,000 people and the torture of at least 2,400.
Ethiopian President Girma Woldegiorgis announced the act of clemency on Wednesday following an appeal for leniency by a panel of heads of religious institutions, as well as an expression of remorse by those convicted.
"The president has decided to commute the death sentence to life imprisonment. It was done in accordance with the constitution," government spokesman Shimelis Kemal told Reuters. Read more from Reuters »
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