ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Five people have been sentenced to be executed and 33 others given life sentences in an Ethiopian assassination plot, a court ruled Tuesday.
Judge Adem Ibrahim ruled in an Addis Ababa courtroom that among those condemned to die are opposition leader Melaku Tefera, who, along with 27 other defendants, was present when the sentences were pronounced, the BBC reported.
The British broadcaster said some of the defendants convicted for plotting to kill Ethiopian officials as part of the "May 15" plot allege they were tortured into confessing, but the judge said the court had not been convinced of the allegations.
Police said they found weapons, including land mines, at the defendants' homes in April when they were arrested. The plan was allegedly organized by Berhanu Nega, a dissident based in the United States.
"The ... five have committed grave offenses and four of them have not learnt from their previous sentences," the BBC quoted Adem as saying. "Therefore, we have been been obliged to give the most severe sentences."
