Grand jury indicts man for allegedly hiding involvement in political persecution on citizenship application

By Curt Yeomans

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    GWINNETT, Georgia (Gwinnett Daily Post) — A Snellville man has been arrested by federal officials who claim he allegedly concealed his involvement in political interrogations and physical abuses during the “Red Terror” in Ethiopia when he applied for U.S. citizenship.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday that Mezemr Abebe Belayneh, 65, was indicted on May 26 on two counts of unlawful procurement of naturalization. When foreign-born people apply for U.S. citizenship, they are asked if they have ever persecuted people because of their political opinions or committed crimes for which they had not been arrested.

Prosecutors alleged that Belayneh claimed he had not been involved in political persecution or committed crimes for which he had not been arrested despite his work at a prison in Ethiopia during the “Red Terror.”

“The laws of the United States are designed to provide refuge for the victims of human rights violation and to exclude those who commit them,” Acting U.S. Attorney Kurt R. Erskine said. “The defendant’s alleged lies through his immigration and naturalization process subverted this system.

“We commend our law enforcement partners at the Department of Homeland Security and the dedicated team at the Department of Justice who work tirelessly to assure that individuals such as the defendant do not have a safe haven in our communities.”

The “Red Terror” was an urban counter-insurgency period from roughly 1976 to 1978 in Ethiopia where mass murders were allegedly committed by the government to suppress political opposition, according to Human Rights Watch.

Prosecutors from the U.S. Department of Justice said Belayneh allegedly ordered and participated in the interrogations and abuses as a civilian interrogator at a makeshift prison in Dilla, Ethiopia in the late 1970’s. The prison was allegedly used to house people who were arrested because of their political beliefs.

If he is convicted of the charges, his citizenship would be automatically revoked.

“Abebe’s lies and horrible past deeds have thankfully come back to haunt him. Now he will be held accountable,” said Special Agent in Charge Katrina W. Berger, who oversees Homeland Security Investigations operations in Georgia and Alabama.

“Thanks to some great work from the agents and officers involved in this case as well as our law enforcement partners, justice will be served.”

Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicholas L. McQuaid of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division added, “Human rights violators have no home in the United States. No matter how much time has passed, the Department of Justice will find and prosecute individuals who committed atrocities in their home countries and covered them up to gain entry to the United States.”

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