07 July 2005 :

the Federal High Court of Ethiopia sentenced to death Colonel Tiruneh Habteselassie for genocide committed during the Dergue regime in the former Kembata and Hadiya district. Habteselassie was found guilty on two charges, homicide and extrajudicial imprisonment of people. Prosecutors produced evidence against Col. Tiruneh that corroborated his involvement in the killing of 32 people whom he alleged were members of the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Party (EPRP).
The court said it was confirmed that he carried out the killings in two rounds. He also threw people in jail in contravention of the law.
The court said that a man convicted of homicide will face five years to life prison sentence or even death penalty. Involvement in the extrajudicial imprisonment is punishable by up to five years in prison.
The colonel failed to defend his charges, the court said.
Habteselassie reportedly took the 32 victims, chained by their hands, to a grave yard prepared earlier by grader and ordered the firing squad to shoot them to death. This was a barbaric and genocidal act, the court said.