Death Sentence for Mengistu

Ethiopia's supreme court sentences former Marxist ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam to death. The court granted a prosecution appeal that argued the life sentence he was given for genocide was unequal to his crimes.

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STORY:
Mengistu, lives a life of comfortable exile in Zimbabwe since he was driven from power in 1991. He is protected as a friend of Zimbabwe by the Mugabe regime. He could face extradition to Ethiopia if Mugabe loses to Morgan Tsvangiria in next month's election run-off.He and more than a dozen other senior officers were found guilty after a 12-year trial.

The court said crimes committed by Mengistu and his co-defendants by killing an emperor and burying him under a toilet "is unheard of in the annals of human history".

His regime's brutality was exemplified by the Red Terror purges of 1977-78, in which at least 1,200 suspected political opponents were murdered and their bodies dumped in the streets as a warning to others.

Mengistu and 19 co-defendants were sentenced to death, while another was sentenced to life. The sentence will be carried out after the head of state approves it.