Political prisoners brought to court barefooted, wearing shorts

ESAT News (June 4, 2016)

In what could be described as a new low in the manner of the tyranical regime in Addis Ababa, authorities on Friday paraded Bekele Gerba and et al to court in shorts and barefooted.

The authorities confiscated all clothing belonging to the twenty two defendants including a vocal critic of the TPLF, Bekele Gerba, vice chair of the Oromo Federalist Congress. Bekele also told the court that they were beaten by the prison officers while in detention.

The defendants were detained shortly after the start of protests in the Oromo region in November falsely accused of inciting the protest and charged with terrorism citing the infamous anti-terrorism law, which the tyrannical regime uses to suppress dissent.

The political prisoners wanted to appear in court in black attires in memory of those killed in the protest, something that prison administrators wouldn’t allow to happen. They confiscated the black attires and all other clothing and brought the defendants to court in a humiliating manner.

The protest in the Oromo region is still continuing, albeit sporadic. Hundreds of people were killed by regime forces and thousands incarcerated in the ongoing protest.