October 14,2019
A court in Bahir Dar in Amhara regional state released on Monday Brigadier General Tefera Mamo, Colonel Alebel Amare, and Colonel Bamlaku Abay, Amhara Mass Media Agency (AMMA) reported.
They were released on a bail bond of 10,000 Ethiopian Birr. And it is confirmed that they are released from jail in the afternoon.
The regional state put them in custody shortly after the June 22, 2019 incident in Bahir Dar which claimed the lives of the region’s president Dr. Ambachew Mekonen, his advisor Ezez Wasse and the region’s attorney general Migbaru Kebede. On the same day, Ethiopia’s chief of staff of the Defense Force, General Seare Mekonnen, and his long-time friend, General Gezai Abera, were assassinated in the capital in the residence of the former.
The Ethiopian government and the regional state in Amhara region called the incident an “attempted coup d’etat.”
So far no evidence is found about direct or indirect involvement of Brigadier General Tefera Mamo et al in what the government called “attempted coup d’etat.”
However, police and the region’s prosecutor has been asking an extended time for “completing investigation” several months after they were put behind bars.
As it turns out, they were being investigated to determine whether they acted in their official capacity in a way that they are supposed to during the incident that led to the killings of key leaders of what is now Amhara Democratic Party.
There has been mounting protest in Amhara region calling for their release as there seems to be a belief that their arrest has nothing to do with the incident. Many in the region believe that they were arrested due to a plot to weaken the security apparatus in the region.
Brigadier General Tefera Mamo was head of the special forces in the region. It is unclear if he is going to back his position but it seems unlikely, at least until the court case is closed.
Source: borkena.com
