Ethiopian police are still holding about 5 400 people detained during deadly street riots early this month over alleged electoral fraud in May’s legislative elections, the country’s police chief said on Tuesday.
So far the federal police have released 7 966 others from detention centres in Dedesa, about 300km west of the capital, Zewai 225km south of here and
from a facility in Addis Ababa, said Federal Police Comissioner Workneh Gedeyhu.
About ”5 400 people are still in custody, but the process of releasing [them] is going on day to day,” he said.
”We are investigating [so as] to be able to bring all of them to the court,” Workneh said, referring to those suspected of having been directly involved in the riots.
He explained that 3 858 people were released from the facilities on Monday.
”All the detainees are in good condition. They receive food and medication [and] their families can visit them,” he added.
People being released were not directly involved in the rioting earlier this month, which left at least 48 people dead and more than 200 injured in the capital and regional towns.
The violence erupted when the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) called on Ethiopians to protest alleged fraud in the May 15 vote, which was won by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).
The entire leadership of CUD is in police custody. – Sapa-AFP