May 18/2003

 POLICE KIDNAP AND MURDER INNOCENT CIVILIAN

A day after police forcefully took Ato Abera Hey from his house in wereda 10, kebele 55 (Addis Abeba) his brutalized body has been found in the morgue of the Menilik Hospital. Relatives had to pay 47 Birr to retrieve the body bearing signs of beatings ( a broken jaw for one) and a puncture wound on the chest. Police claimed Ato Abera hanged himself though there was no sign of such a death.

Ato Abera, who was 35 years old, had three children and was responsible for seven family members. On the eve of Easter Day (Ethiopian Copt) police (two in civilian clothes and one in uniform) came into his compound in the early morning hours and finding another person first (Ato Yoahnnes) they handcuffed him at gunpoint and beat him up before proceeding to Ato Abera's house. They subsequently released Ato Yohannes and handcuffing Ato Abera they took him away , in his pyjamas, to the wereda 19 police station. Relatives who followed asked the police to allow them to give Ato Abera his clothes but police refused. Ato Abera was taken out of the police station, put inside a white Toyota car bearing a police license plate and taken to an unknown destination. His family and relatives searched the whole day from one station to another without finding him. On the Monday after Easter, a phone call alerts the family that Ato Abera's corpse can be found at the Menelik hospital morgue.The family, not believing the call, returned to the police atation to ask for Ato Abera's whereabouts. Police kept ou the wife (weizero Alemitu Tadese) but informed the in law and uncle of Ato Abera that he was indeed dead and to be found at the morgue. The family made its way to the hospital morgue, paid 47 Birr, got a receipt and the retrieved the battered body. Doctors refused to make public their autopsy findings and the police have refused to make any comment on how and why Ato Abera was arrested and murdered.

 Such brutal and illegal actions by the Federal Police and security services are on the increase. The family of Ato Abera had to endure this sad ordeal without even now knowing why. SOCEPP condemns the brutal murder of Ato Abera and demands that the police and the EPRDF give full explanation on this criminal act and bring the culprits to court.

SOCEPP