Statement from Ethiopia

Ethiopia says that there are 41 detainees and 29 of them are going to be released, They also say that the detainees were "allowed to appear before the relevant court of law, in this instance before the competent Military Court.

Fia knows there were 11 women and 11 children at the concentrationcamp. 'The men who were transported in same militaryplanes from Mogadishu the 5 th of March were about 20. Several new men came later - and also one woman. So the number of the detainees should be questioned. There could be more prisoners who are kept hidden by ethiopians or others who were there. ICRC estimates the number of detainees to be up to 200, and it is obvious that there are other secret prisons.

The military court that the ethiopian talk about was quite a farce.  "It took place on the 13 and the 14 of March. The detainees were taken to a building, There were no lawyers and the detainees were not allowed to speak for themselves either. They were only asked and allowed to say their names, nationality, age and fathers name. Nothing more. It was a true mess. The "judges" har some sort of black cloacks and there were some soldiers as guards. No evidence was presented. No indictmens were made. No suspicions of any crime were informed to the detainees.  Fia heard them say that they would be judged to be either warprisoners or illegal combattants and the verdict would be given on April the 13th. There were no other alternatives than being guilty or being guilty. " 
(But observe: The interrogators who a little later talked to  Fia said that she was not suspected for anything at all!)

Still, Fia used the time she spent at the "court" to observe closely her fiancee, as they were in the same room, which had not happened at all before during the detention. They were not allowed to talk but she could see that his neck was full of bruises as if they had being strangeling him. He had deep wounds in his wrists and ankles. His face was tired, worn out. He was very thin, seemed to be only half the weight he had had before. Fia was sitting and wondering what other signs of torture there was on his body.