Former Somali region president Abdi Illey released from prison
Abdi Illey, former president of the Somali region of Ethiopia, is reportedly released from prison. He was arrested in August 2018 following a battle between the Federal government forces and the regional special forces who were said to be loyal to him.
A BBC Amharic report, published on Thursday, said Abdi Illey ( Abdi Mohammed Omar)’s lawyer has confirmed his release. Abdi Mohamoud Omar has led the Somali region as head of the administration between 2010 and 2018. He was allegedly involved in atrocious crimes in the region during his tenure, and has a grim rights abuse record. Among the victims, according to sources, were the families of the current president of the region, Mustafa Mohammed. He was also implicated in squandering public resources.
Eskinder Gezahegn, his lawyer, has also revealed that the charge against Abdi Illey was dropped, and was released from prison on Thursday.
Other defendants who were on the same case file were released, according to BBC Amharic. Brigadier General Kinfe Dagnaw is among those who were released, according to local sources from Ethiopia but he did not walk out of the prison gage on Thursday this week.
Why the government prosecutor dropped the charges is undisclosed.
“What I can confirm now is that Ato Abdi today[Thursday] was released from prison in the afternoon. Regarding the request from the prosecutor, we have not received anything,” BBC Amharic quoted Eskinder as saying.
Among the charges he was facing was that he organized a youth group in 2018 that was known as Hego with the intention to trigger civil war in the region. 59 people were killed and 250 others wounded in the conflict that the group caused is among the charges he was facing.
Many of the victims were civilians. Furthermore, the Ethiopian Church in Jijiga was attacked and burned.
Originally published by borkena
Follow us on:
YOUTUBE FACEBOOK TELEGRAM GOOGLE NEWS TWITTER INSTAGRAM PINTEREST :
Subscribe and Follow us via Email
If you have any comment regarding this article contact us at contact@ethiopianstoday.com
