Ethiopia: investigation after the broadcast of a video of a man tortured by Amhara soldiers

An Amhara special forces fighter, November 22, 2020. (Illustrative image) AFP - EDUARDO SOTERAS

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

Once again, a video showing a particularly heinous crime gives rise to an investigation by the National Human Rights Commission.

This document, which has been circulating for several days on social networks, shows the torture of a very young man of Tigrayan origin by a group of soldiers in the Amhara region.

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This is a particularly appalling new video

, as there have already been several in circulation since the start of the war in Tigray.

We see a very young man haggard, on the ground, his mouth bleeding, in the middle of a group of soldiers wearing the crest of the Ethiopian army.

Kicked in the face, he can no longer speak.

The men around him insult him and film him.

“ 

 ,” says one of them.

Another gives a stone to a child present in the group and encourages her to hit him with it, which she does without hesitation.

The Ethiopian authorities have not yet reacted to the distribution of this document.

But on Tuesday, the chairman of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission told Reuters that the video was under investigation.

“ 

,” explained Daniel Bekele.

The video, whose recording date is unknown, was geolocated near the town of Belenta, in the Amhara region.

We hear the soldiers accusing the victim of being a Tigrayan from Abiy Addi, a town 80 kilometers away, where deadly fighting took place last July.

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• Ethiopia

• Human rights