COURT SENTENCED FIVE INDIVIDUALS IN THE GANG RAPE & SUBSEQUENT DEATH OF HANA LALANGO

የልደታ ከፍተኛ ፍርድ ቤት ዛሬ ማለዳ በዋለው ችሎት ሀና ላላንጎን አስገድደው በመድፈር እና በመግደል የከሰሳቸው 5 ግለሰቦች ላይ ውሳኔ አሳለፈ

በዚህም መሰረት የመጀመሪያ እና ሁለተኛ ተከሳሽ ሳምሶን ስለሺ እና በዛብህ ገብረማሪያምን በእድሜ ልክ እስራት እንዲቀጡ ሲወስን ሶስተኛ፣አራተኛ እና አምሰተኛ ተከሳሾችን ደግሞ በ 17፣20 እና 18 አመት እስራት እንዲቀጡ ወስኗል

The Federal High Court at Lideta was in session this morning to decide on the sentencing of five defendants who were found guilty of Rape (Gang rape) and aggravated homicide.

The bench after considering the submission of the prosecutor including aggravating circumstances and the submission of the defense attorneys including mitigating circumstances has decided as follows.

1) The first and second defendants (Samson Sileshi & Bezabih G. Mariam) are both sentenced to life in prison with out the possibility of parole

2) Third, Fourth and Fifth defendants (Bekalu G. Medhin, Ephrem Ayele & Temesgen Tsegaye) were sentenced to 17, 20 and 18 years respectively.

The Third Criminal Bench of the Lideta Federal High Court sentenced five individuals found guilty of the gang rape and subsequent death in September last year of Hana Lalango. 

Accordingly the court sentenced the first and second defendants Samson Sileshi and Bezabhi G. Mariam to life in prison without the possibility of parole. The 3rd, 4th and 5th defendants, Bekalu G. Medihin, Aphrem Ayele and Temesgen Tsegaye have been sentenced to 17, 20 and 28 years in prison without the possibilities of parole.

Hanna Lalango, 16, was snatched from the taxi she took to go home after a long day in the school. The investigating police officer told this magazine at the time that Hanna was abducted by a gang of five who pretended to be commuters when she took the taxi. They then re-routed the taxi to take Hana to a hidden place where they gang raped her for ten solid days before she was found by her parents after she was abandoned. Hana died of her wounds just a few weeks later.

Hanna’s ordeal has received a far more public reaction than crimes of similar scale before. A Facebook page dedicated for Hanna was set up by activists and has attracted a wide acceptance. A twitter hashtag #JusticeForHanna was also trending since then.

Ethiopian social media users used the platform to express their frustrations at the failure of justice. The case was then brought to a court in Dec. last year where the hearings, not without eye opening glitches mostly related to insignificant judiciary delays, were taking place.