Kaliti

Thirty-eight opposition activists were convicted by an Ethiopian court Monday in a trial stemming from violent unrest that followed disputed elections in 2005. The 38 members of the Coalition for Union and Democracy were all convicted of breaching Ethiopia’s Constitution after a trial that they refused to recognise and where they opted not to defend themselves.

Prosecution witnesses in the coup-plot trial of Ethiopian opposition figures testified on Friday that the accused sought to foment an armed rebellion after disputed elections last year. They told a court that leaders of the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy encouraged them to take up arms against the government.