ADDIS ABABA, May 26 (Xinhua) -- The Federal Attorney General of Ethiopia on Saturday officially dropped corruption charges against 740 convicts, including former high-profile Ethiopian government officials and a prominent rebel leader.
According to Berhanu Tsegaye, some 137 of the pardoned individuals were imprisoned on terror charges, while 27 others were charged in connection with corruption.
Among the released terrorism related convicts is the prominent rebel leader, Andargachew Tsige, a British citizen of Ethiopian origin, who has been serving a prison sentence since June 2014, for leading and directing an outlawed rebel group Ginbot 7, based mainly in Ethiopia's neighboring nation Eritrea.
Tsige's release, which the attorney general said was on a "special amnesty rationale," followed the announcement on Friday to release former high-profile Ethiopian government officials.
Among the former Ethiopian government officials whose cases dropped on Friday include Melaku Fanta, the former Director General of the Ethiopian Revenues and Customs Authority with the rank of a Minister, and his deputy, Gebrewahed Woldegiorgis, who were arrested in 2013 together with other 11 individuals suspected of involving in large scale corruption cases, state television EBC reported.
Alemayehu Gojo, former deputy minister of finance and economic cooperation, who was arrested last year as part of Ethiopia's biggest anti-corruption sweep in years, is also another high-profile defendant included in the attorney general's latest amnesty list.
Gojo, who is a member of Ethiopian Parliament, had his immunity revoked by a vote in the Parliament, a necessary step before he was prosecuted for corruption.
Tsegaye, announcing the pardon on Saturday, also revealed that some 576 individuals serving time on various other criminal charges were also pardoned as part of the large government's amnesty program.
The amnesty program, which the Ethiopian government said is a means towards national reconciliation and unity, has seen the release of thousands of prisoners and others under investigation since the swearing in of Ethiopia's new Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed, on April 2.
Just last month, 114 defendants who were detained on terrorism cases were given pardon followed by the closure of a notorious detention and investigation center located in the capital Addis Ababa.
The Ethiopian government has characterized the mass prisoner release programs as part of its efforts to widen political space by creating national consensus and reconciliation.
Regional states have also conducted similar large scale prisoners release recently, including pardoning more than 2,200 prisoners by Ethiopia's northern Tigray regional state.
Ethiopia's largest Oromia regional state administration has also on Thursday pardoned some 7,611 prisoners.
