January 2008: In October 2003, it was reported that approximately 6,426 defendants are awaiting trial. Of these, 3,000 are outside the country and could be tried in absentia (which was the case with the ex-President Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam). [Ministry of Justice Website] More than 1 569 decisions have been handed down, with 1 017 resulting in convictions. [PN] Mengistu Haile Mariam was eventually found guilty and given a life sentence (in absentia) in the Ethiopian court on December 2006. He was found guilty in relation to acts of genocide he committed together with 73 others who were present at the time of the judgement [Reuters]. After the guilty verdict, prosecutors in June 2007 sought to upgrade Mengistu Haile Mariam’s life sentence to death. Zimbabwe, where he’s been exiled for 16 years, still refuses to extradite him. [Reuters] | 
