Ethiopia’s attorney general on Friday filed terrorism charges against five suspects held for involvement in a grenade attack at a rally attended by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in June.
Two people were killed and scores wounded in the explosion in the centre of the capital Addis Ababa on June 23 that occurred close to a stage just after a speech by Abiy to tens of thousands of supporters.
Charges brought to court accused the suspects of “targeting the prime minister” with the aim of “preventing his administration from governing the country,” the attorney general’s office said in a statement.
Abiy, the first ethnic Oromo leader in the diverse country’s modern history, has pursued a reconciliation strategy since taking power in April.
This has included pardoning the exiled Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which has waged an insurgency for self-determination for Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group.