Ethiopian Academic Acquitted of Terrorism Charges

A member of an Ethiopian opposition movement banned by the Ethiopian regime has been acquitted of all charges of terrorism following a 3-week trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court. Tadesse Kersmo is a member of Ginbot 7 (now Patriotic Ginbot 7), set up after the 2005 elections when all those who won seats for the opposition were not allowed to take up their seats. Faced with persecution and false allegations he and his wife fled Ethiopia and sought asylum in the UK.

The persecution did not end and Dr Kersmo had malicious spyware infected onto his computer while he sought sanctuary in the UK. Despite informing the British police of his work in 2013, Dr Kersmo was arrested in January 2017 for possession of documents. The British jury took only 2 hours to acquit Dr Kersmo, clearly accepting his account that he had documents for research to assist with his campaign of civic disobedience.

Read more: Bindmans Solicitors, http://bit.ly/2oV696n