The Norwegian citizen Okello Akuay Ochalla, sentenced to nine years in prison in Ethiopia, will not be in prison in the capital Addis Ababa as on the weekend it was ravaged by fire.
21 people died in the fire in the high security prison Qilinto, according to the authorities.
News agency NTB has previously written on Ochalla’s verdict in Qilinto. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo says, , he was moved to another prison.
Among those imprisoned in Qilinto, there are many political prisoners. Ochalla was earlier this year acquitted of violating terrorism laws, but convicted of trying to “split the nation,” according to the newspaper Dagbladet.
He was in the early 2000s the supreme leader for the region Gambela, before he fled to Norway and became a Norwegian citizen.
In Ethiopia, the government has in recent months come down hard on a number of protests against the government. Over 400 people who participated in the protests, have been killed by security forces, according to the Human Rights Watch.
Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today
