ETHIOPIA:Mengistu Haile Mariam, the reviled former Marxist leader of Ethiopia, was yesterday found guilty of genocide at the end of a 12-year trial in Addis Ababa. The 69-year-old dictator lives a lavish but reclusive existence in Zimbabwe, where he fled in 1991.
He was tried in absentia and found guilty along with 11 co-defendants.
Mengistu was among a cadre of low-level officers who seized power from Ethiopia's last emperor, Haile Selassie, in 1974.
Mengistu soon emerged as leader and embarked on the "Red Terror" campaign.
Suspected opponents were executed by garrotting or shooting. Their bodies were then tossed into the streets. No one knows how many died in the nationwide slaughter but some analysts believe as many as 150,000 university students, intellectuals and politicians were killed.
Many Ethiopians hope the verdict, postponed from May, will close the door on one of the country's darkest periods.
"I am very happy he has been found guilty," Tadesse Mamo, a 32-year-old businessman told the Associated Press news agency in the capital. "He killed so many of our intellectuals and our youth, most notably our emperor."
Mengistu and his co-defendants who served on the government's central committee were found guilty of genocide, homicide, illegal imprisonment and illegal confiscation of property by Ethiopia's federal high court yesterday.
"Accused numbers one to 12 are found guilty of all charges," Justice Medhin Kiros told a packed but sombre courtroom, speaking in the local Amharic language.
The case is a rare example of an African dictator being held to account after losing power.
Mengistu could even face the death penalty when the judges return for sentencing in a fortnight's time.
However, Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe has promised not to deport his old political ally as long as he does not engage in political activity. Mengistu's communist regime trained many of Zimbabwe's guerrilla fighters.
In all, 72 officials of Mengistu's administration were on trial for genocide. All but one were convicted.
Thirty-four people were in court. Another 14 died during the marathon trial and 25, including Mengistu, were tried in absentia.
Most of the charges related to the Red Terror. However, hundreds of thousands more died under Mengistu's brutal rule.
A million people died during the famine of 1984-1985. Initially Mengistu refused to acknowledge there were food shortages in the north of Ethiopia and aid workers have recalled how he flew in planeloads of whisky to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of his revolution.
While the verdict was welcomed by human rights campaigners, few thought it would do much to end the impunity enjoyed by Africa's brutal list of retired strongmen.
David Shinn, former US ambassador to Ethiopia, said the verdict was unlikely to leave other dictators nervous about the threat of prosecution. "If he was returned to Ethiopia to face sentence then that would send a powerful message to other leaders - but that's not going to happen," he said.