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Court in Netherlands convicts man of war crimes in Ethiopia in 1970s

A court in the Netherlands on Friday convicted a man of war crimes in Ethiopia during the Marxist regime of the 1970s. 

The 63 year old man, Eshetu Alemu was deemed by the court to have been in charge of the Dergue regime in Gojam province. 

"It was in this context that he had a large group of mainly teenagers arrested, tortured and killed on the pretext of their affiliation with the EPRP, the main opposition movement in Gojam at the time," the court said in a statement. 

He was convicted of ordering the killing of 75 political opponents, failing to prevent the torture of 6 people, and ordering the detention of over 300. 

Mr Alemu accepted the blame for the crimes, however told the court 'he did not personally commit them', AP reported. 

He was sentenced for life imprisonment. 
 

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