Kelbessa Negewo (born 1950) is an Ethiopian man who served as an official of the

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

Derg The Derg or Dergue (, ), officially the Provisional Military Administrative Council (PMAC), was the military junta that ruled Ethiopia, including present-day Eritrea, from 1974 to 1987, when they formally "Civil government, civilianized" the ...

regime while it was in power. He oversaw the torture and murder of political opponents during the

Red Terror The Red Terror () was a campaign of political repression and Mass killing, executions in Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia which was carried out by the Bolsheviks, chiefly through the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police ...

; Kelbessa denies a role in the torture that occurred. After the fall of the Derg regime, Kelbessa moved to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and later gained US citizenship. In Ethiopia, he was tried and convicted ''in absentia'', and sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

. He was later deported to Ethiopia, where he is currently serving his sentence.

Life in Ethiopia

Kelbessa was born in western Ethiopia in 1950, where his family raised goats. Kelbessa claims he was awarded a scholarship to study in the

, but a government official in Emperor

Haile Selassie Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...

's regime had his own nephew sent instead in Kelbessa's place. Kelbessa later married and had three children, later divorcing. When the emperor was overthrown and the Derg seized power, Kelbessa became part of a neighborhood council which was tasked with seeing to revolutionary changes in the country. He eventually progressed to the status of chairman of Higher Zone 9, one of Addis Ababa's 25 zones, where he oversaw multiple councils and was involved in recruiting members of armed "revolutionary defense squads". According to author Andrew Rice, writing in ''

The New York Times Magazine ''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted many notable contributors. The magazi ...

'', "A series of memos... reveal that he was tireless in begging his higher-ups for more guns, more ammunition and more press coverage." According to Hirut Abebe-Jiri, an activist involved in preserving and documenting atrocities while

Mengistu Haile Mariam Mengistu Haile Mariam (, pronunciation: ; born 21 May 1937) is an Ethiopian former politician, revolutionary, and military officer who served as the head of state of Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991. He was General Secretary of the Workers' Party o ...

ruled the country, and other women, Kelbessa directly oversaw their torture, and demanded to know whether they were members of the

Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP) (), informally known as Ihapa (), is the first modern political party in Ethiopia. Established in April 1972, it aimed to turn Ethiopia into a democratic republic. Both the EPRP and another pa ...

, then fighting the government in the

Ethiopian Civil War The Ethiopian Civil War was a civil war in Ethiopia and present-day Eritrea, fought between the Ethiopian military junta known as the Derg and Ethiopian-Eritrean anti-government rebels from 12 September 1974 to 28 May 1991. The Derg overthre ...

Life in the United States

Kelbessa moved to the United States in 1987, arriving in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on August 3. He moved to

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, progressing from dishwasher to bellhop at the Colony Square Hotel. He was recognized in an elevator at the hotel by an Ethiopian woman, who claims he oversaw her torture while in Ethiopia. She contacted two other women who also identified themselves as his victims, and together they filed a

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

under the

Alien Tort Claims Act The Alien Tort Statute ( codified in 1948 as ; ATS), also called the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), is a section in the United States Code that gives federal courts jurisdiction over lawsuits filed by foreign nationals for torts committed in vio ...

, alleging a violation of their

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

. A judge awarded them

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

1.5 million in damages, but Kelbessa filed bankruptcy. Shortly after the trial, the Ethiopian special prosecutor tasked with investigating and prosecuting crimes committed during Mengistu's rule asked for Kelbessa's extradition to Ethiopia, which was not granted. He was fired from his job at the hotel, earned a degree in accounting from DeVry University, and remarried, having a son who died in infancy and later a daughter. He became a US citizen on July 28, 1995, after which two of the women who had sued him returned to Atlanta and were taped in a

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

interview. He was tried and convicted in absentia in Ethiopia on murder charges, and sentenced to life imprisonment. In 2004 the National Intelligence Reform Act was made into law in the US. It included Senator

Patrick Leahy Patrick Joseph Leahy ( ; born March 31, 1940) is an American politician and attorney who represented Vermont in the United States Senate from 1975 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he also was the pr ...

's Anti-Atrocity Alien Deportation Act, which made torture and extrajudicial killings in other countries reason for a person's deportation from the US to that country. Kelbessa was brought to trial in the US again, and voluntarily gave up his American citizenship. A judge ordered him deported, and he was sent back to Ethiopia to serve his life sentence.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Negewo, Kelbessa Living people 1950 births Ethiopian people convicted of murder Ethiopian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment People deported from the United States People convicted of murder by Ethiopia Ethiopian emigrants to the United States Denaturalized citizens of the United States Oromo people Prisoners and detainees of the United States federal government Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Ethiopia Politicide perpetrators People convicted of torture Ethias Trophy

Life in Ethiopia

Life in the United States

See also

References