(Dec 23 PARIS,(KUNA)--French officials indicated Friday that the government here was "attentively following" the trial of two Swedish journalists in Ethiopia on charges of threatening state security.
The two journalists were formally charged and appeared in court this week where they were convicted. Sentencing is due on December 27, diplomats here said, and the prosecutor has urged an 18-year sentence for the men.
"We have been attentively following (the case) since the beginning," Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said. "We are monitoring the situation via our ambassador on the spot...and we are in contact with other capitals about it," he added.
The trial has already been condemned by a number of governments, including the United States. The two reporters, Martin Schibbye and Johar Persson, were picked up in the unstable Ogaden region last July and were accused of being in contact with rebel groups in that area.
Source: KUNA
The two journalists were formally charged and appeared in court this week where they were convicted. Sentencing is due on December 27, diplomats here said, and the prosecutor has urged an 18-year sentence for the men.
"We have been attentively following (the case) since the beginning," Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said. "We are monitoring the situation via our ambassador on the spot...and we are in contact with other capitals about it," he added.
The trial has already been condemned by a number of governments, including the United States. The two reporters, Martin Schibbye and Johar Persson, were picked up in the unstable Ogaden region last July and were accused of being in contact with rebel groups in that area.
Source: KUNA
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