Ethiopia Journalist sentenced to a year in prison for defaming clergy

The federal first instant court Arada branch has today jailed journalist Getachew Worku, editor-in-chief of the Amharic weekly independent Newspaper, Ethio-Mihidar, for one year.

Getachew was taken into police custody last week on Nov. 4th after the same court found him guilty of ‘defaming’ senior clergy members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The court passed the guilty verdict in an ongoing lawsuit brought against Getachew by the church. The lawsuit followed an article the newspaper ran in May 2015 detailing the conduct of corrupt practices by senior members of the clergy at the precincts of the Saint Mary’s Patriarchal Monastery here in the capital Addis Abeba.

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Subsequently, prosecutors have charged Getachew with Ethiopia’s criminal code article 613 under “defamation and spreading false information.” During the hearing last week, prosecutors have originally sought a jail term of up to three years. Getachew was taken to the Qilinto prison on the southern outskirt of the capital where he spent the week. Read more here