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Belgian Federal Prosecutor Office starts investigation into war crimes in Tigray

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The Federal Prosecutor’s Office of Brussels confirmed on 2 June 2021 that it has opened a file on various war crimes and crimes against humanity in Tigray, Ethiopia. Several Belgian victims of the war in northern Ethiopia had submitted testimonies to the Prosecutor’s Office. Their relatives were executed and property looted.

A fierce war is still raging in the Ethiopian region of Tigray. The armies of the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed invaded the region in November last year, in order to eliminate his political rivals. He called on the Eritrean regime to cross the border with tens of thousands of soldiers.

Since then, thousands of civilians have been killed by Ethiopian and Eritrean troops. Human rights organisations have observed ethnic persecution, torture and mass executions. The Ethiopian army’s aggression against the Tigray minority has increased further in recent months. Gang rape is now widely used as a weapon of war. The United Nations even accuse the Ethiopian regime of deliberately delaying food aid to the region.

The Union of Tigrayans in Belgium supports the complaint of the Belgian-Tigrayan war victims. Five relatives of victims asked the Federal Prosecutor to conduct an independent investigation into the war criminals within the Ethiopian and Eritrean regimes. It is possible in Belgium to try crimes against humanity, even if they did not take place in Belgium, if some of the victims are Belgian.

Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, but that was of course before the start of the atrocities in Tigray. The many war crimes remain mostly under the radar because the regime bars journalists and blocks the internet. Moreover, Ethiopia does not recognise the International Criminal Court. The investigation by a Federal Prosecutor’s Office would be the first to lead to a trial of members of the regime of Abiy Ahmed for crimes against humanity.

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4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. Isaias Irgau

    June 20, 2021 at 7:48 pm

    Friends of Tigray in Delaware is working on legal options to hold the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize Committee accountable for their 2019 award and its role on worsening the predicament of the people of Tigray. We are very interested in communicating with the Belgian citizens of Tigrayan origin who raised the issue of crimes against humanity with Belgian prosecutors.

  2. Lily Tekle

    June 16, 2021 at 4:13 pm

    Please stop killing of the Tigray

    Stop the Ethiopian & Erterian Government
    The World needs to pay attention!
    Please don’t ignore this Horrific Crimes still happening as now!!!

  3. Lily Tekle

    June 16, 2021 at 4:10 pm

    Please pay attention the Human Geneside in Tigray by the Ethiopian Government and Erterian

    Please STOP THE KILLINGS OF TIGRAY INNOCENT CIVILIANS!!!
    PLEASE HELP THE TIGRAYS!!!!

  4. Holy Synod of Tigray loading

    June 16, 2021 at 11:37 am

    We have an outstanding articles from ሙሉጌታ ወልደገብርኤል . In his article entitled
    “የትግራይ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋህዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን ሲኖዶስ መቋቋም አስፈላጊነት” He discussed several pointed and gave an excellent reply to multiple concernes raised and that amount to the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question. However

    I my opinion , We do our own Holy Synod , since we could no longer associate outselves with a church and its leaders who waged and sponsored a full fuldged war against our people and our churches. As the entire world know, Our churches , monasteries and priceless heritages were set on fire , looted and destroyed completely. He decribed it well here “በመሆኑም፥ ትግራዋይ በዚህ ሰዓት ምን ጉዳይ ቢኖረው ነው የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋህዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን ተብላ በምትታወቀው የሲዖል መጋበሪ ስር የሚሰባሰበው? ምን ለማግኘት? ትግራዋይ የሚባል ዘር ከምድረ ገጽ መጥፋት አለበት ብለው ተማምለው ከተነሱ ከኢሳይያስ አፈወርቂና ከዐቢይ አህመድ ዓሊ ጎን በመቆም አዎ! መጥፋት አለበት እያለች በቀንና በሌሊት በተጋሩ ላይ በምታሟርት ቤተ ክርስቲያን ምን ጉዳይ አለህ? ድፍን ዓለም እየተመለከተ የኢትዮጵያ ቤተ ክርስቲያን እንደ ተቋም አላውቅህም በማለት ለገዳይ አሳልፋ በሰጠችህ ቤተ ክርስቲያን ስር ምን ትሰራለህ? በእውነቱ ነገር እስከዚህ ድረስ ነው ወይ የደነዘዝነው?”

    Other reasons he explained were not acceptable to me regardless of his educational or postions he has held in the church or secular instituions. Apart from this, I felt some of his views could deter the laity from church and we dnot ned to generalize and spread hate against church leaders. We do have bishops and church leaders who excercise teh same ecclesiastical duties in Tigray as well. The ony difference is their tribal and political standing that led them to stand in favor of genociders.
    I completely recognize his points about Mahibrekidusan” በአሁን ሰዓት ደግሞ ማህበረ ቅዱስን ተብሎ የሚታወቅ ቤተ ክህነትና ቤተ መንግስት በመጠቅለል የሽዋ መንግስትነት ለመመለስ እንቅልፍ ያጣ ፊደል የቆጠረ ደንቆሮ አስተባባሪነት ፓትሪያሪክ ቲዎፍሎስ ደርግ አብዮታዊ እርምጃ እንዲወስድባቸው ሲኖዶሱ ለወታደራዊው የደርግ መንግስት በምስጢር ደብዳቤ ጽፎና ተፈራርሞ በጥይት ያስረሸናቸው ሲሆን፤ ለፓርቲያሪክ ጳውሎስም በወቅቱ ከዋሽንግተን እስከ አስመራ መሽገው የነበሩ ትግራይ ፎቢያ የጸናባቸው እንደ እነ ብርሃኑ ነጋና አንዳርጋቸው ጽጌ የመሳሰሉ የግንቦት 7 የአረጣ ፖለቲካ ነጋዴዎች በመመሳጠር ቤንሻንጉል ጉምዝ ድረስ በመሄድ በምዋርትና በጥንቆላ ሲያቅታቸው በቤተ መቅደስ ቅዱስ ቁርባን ውስጥ መርዝ በመጨመር የገደለ ስብስብ ነው”
    Let us agree to disagree and forward what is best to the laity other than passing something hateful to the entire orthodox church.

    BTW, there are people who wanna our church to use an alternative geez word but not “Orthodox” which is a greek term and we could find geez words like “ርትዕት” or something else to designate our church. It is not the term”Orthodox ” that makes its distinct and demonstrate its teachings.

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