Former Olympic Champ Arraigned Wolde Charged With Crimes Against Humanity

Olympic marathon gold medalist Mamo Wolde was among 73 people arraigned Monday on charges of participating in mass killings and torture in the 1970s during the military regime.

Wolde, 65, the 1968 Olympic champion, has been imprisoned since 1992. He is accused of involvement in the killings of 2,000 political opponents of Col. Mengistu Haile Mariam from 1974 to 1978.

The accused will be asked to enter pleas April 14.

Wolde was a captain in the former imperial guard when Mariam overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974.

The special prosecutor said Wolde was involved in planning the killings of hundreds of youngsters suspected of belonging to the opposition Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Party.

Seventy top officials of the 1974-91 regime are being tried for crimes against humanity. Mariam, who fled to Zimbabwe in 1991, is among 25 being tried in absentia.