U.S. govt asked to sanction Ethiopia's ex-spy boss, Getachew Assefa

Mike Coffman, a United States Congressman is pushing for sanctions to be slapped on Ethiopia’s former intelligence chief, Getachew Assefa.

An October 22 letter addressed to Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo and Secretary of the Treasury, Steven T. Mnuchin, described Assefa as a criminal and ruthless human rights violator, who needed to be sanctioned along with all persons who aided him during his reign of terror.

The Congressman said his demand for the Magnitsky Act to be imposed on Assefa was also to curtail his actions and abilities despite being out of his position.

“…it is entirely possible that Assefa remains in Ethiopia, specifically in the Tigray region and he was recently appointed to a leadership position within the TPLF, where he will have the opposrtunity to inflict harm on his own people.

“Due to the countless human rights violations that he is reported to have committed and due to his current path of avoiding any accounting for them in an Ethiopian court of law, I urge you to consider the imposition of Global Magnitsky sanctions against Assefa.

“I also ask you to consider additional measures against those colleagues who acted as his enablers and who also appear to have committed egregious crimes,” the correspondence said in part.

The Magnitsky Act will allow for the U.S. president to impose visa and asset sanctions on a person of interest. According to Coffman, it will be a strong step in America’s stance against corruption and rights violations.

#Ethiopia: #US Representative Mike Coffman requests that “Getachew Assefa, former head of the Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) be sanctioned under the Global Magnitsky Act for having committed human rights violations…” https://t.co/9CFP7pa6sY pic.twitter.com/9CgvdIHWjE

— Addis Standard (@addisstandard) October 23, 2018