After a year of trial over the killing of Ethiopian musician Hachalu Hundessa, three individuals have been found guilty by a federal anti-terror and constitutional court in the capital Addis Ababa.
Tilahun Yami was found guilty of violating the anti-terror law, while Kebede Gemechu was convicted of ordinary homicide [murder]. Abdi Alemayehu was found guilty of a lesser charge by concealing information about the plan. They will be handed their sentences within 10 days.
Hachalu was an influential Ethiopian singer, songwriter, and civil rights activist whose protest songs unified the Oromo people, encouraging them to resist oppression.
He played a significant role in the 2015–16 Oromo protests that led to Abiy Ahmed taking charge of the Oromo Democratic Party and Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, and subsequently becoming prime minister of Ethiopia in 2018.
Hachalu’s killing sparked widespread violence in Addis Ababa and in the country’s largest state Oromia, where more than 200 people were killed.
The violence also led to the arrest of prominent opposition figures, many of whom remain jailed. (Source: BBC)