I have but one passion: to enlighten those who have been kept in the dark, in the name of humanity which has suffered so much and is entitled to happiness. My fiery protest is simply the cry of my very soul. — Émile Zola, 13th January 1898
“… Some hooligans and political members of CUD [opposition party Coalition for Unity and Democracy] started throwing stones and crashing buses. Government soldiers and police tried to protect the buses. The police had to defend themselves and shoot at the hooligans… —
Audio recording of Bereket Simon, prime suspect in the commission of crimes against humanity in Ethiopia in an interview following the post-election massacres in 2005.
My fiery protest for the past 13 years…
“Bereket” in Amharic means blessings.
But Bereket Simon has been the curse, the scourge of Ethiopia for the past 27 years.
For 27 years, Bereket Simon has caused untold deaths and political destruction in Ethiopia.
Bereket Simon was the invisible hand behind the trigger fingers of those police and security officers who unleashed the massacres on unarmed protesters following the 2005 elections.
In February 2019, I stand before the court of world opinion and accuse Bereket Simon, a/k/a Mebratu Gebrehiwot, of crimes against humanity in the deaths and malicious shooting with intent to kill hundreds of unarmed protesters in Ethiopia on June 8, 2005, and November 1–10, 2005.
My long time readers and followers know that I got involved in Ethiopia human rights advocacy because of one and only one reason: To bear witness to the victims of the Meles Massacres of 2005 and to ultimately bring the criminals who are directly and personally responsible for those massacres to the bar of justice.
As I have said so many times over the past decade, the victims of the Meles massacres cry out for justice from the grave.
Though we do not know the identity of all of them, we do have a fairly substantial list of names and some gruesome photographs of victims in the Testimony of Yared Hailemariam before the Extraordinary Joint Committee Meeting of the European Parliament Committees on Development and Foreign Affairs, and Sub-Committee on Human Rights, May 15, 2006.
We also have video clips of police engaging unarmed post-election protesters with machine gun fire in the background and images of severely wounded gunshot victims being transported to hospital.
I have been the voice from the grave of the victims of the Meles-Bereket Massacres in the court of world public opinion for the past 13 years.
I cannot remember the number of times people have told me, “Let it go. It is in the past. You can never bring back those people. Let bygones be bygones…”
They misunderstand my personal crusade against criminals against humanity.
Did I undertake my quest only to seek legal accountability and vindication for the masterminds of the Meles Massacres?
Did I labor day and night and post my fiery protests every single Monday for the past 13 years only to keep their memory alive?
Not at all.
I believe not bringing to justice those who commit crimes against humanity is itself a crime against humanity.
But my efforts transcend my endless crusade for justice for the victims of the 2005 massacres.
I want to make sure that my efforts will contribute in a small way to the prevention of crimes against humanity in Ethiopia in the future by those in power and out of power.
It is of the greatest importance to me that the younger generation of Ethiopians today and future generations to believe no individual or group will escape justice after committing crimes against humanity in Ethiopia.
But there is a hard and shocking truth we must all face.
The vast majority of the younger generation over the past decades has been driven into cynicism and believes that in Ethiopia those who commit crimes against humanity do so with impunity and almost always escape justice.
That was the shocking truth I learned talking to some young people at random when I visited Ethiopia this past September.
They would chuckle and say something along these lines: “Gashe, but that is the way it has always been in this country. No official is ever brought to justice for killing or torturing innocent citizens. It happens and then it is forgotten until it happens again. That will never change.”
It will change and is indeed changing before our very eyes today.
H.E. Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed is proving to Ethiopians and the world that no one is above the law in Ethiopia and those who have committed gross human rights abuses will be brought to justice.
Today, dozens of such suspects are in custody awaiting trial. Others have chosen to live in hiding as fugitives from justice.
By standing up and speaking up for the victim of the Meles-Bereket Massacres, I wanted to demonstrate to the present and coming generations of Ethiopians that it is their moral duty to protest crimes against humanity and to work diligently to bring such criminals to justice no matter how long it takes or how difficult the task.
I want to eradicate the culture of indifference to crimes against humanity which has spawned deep cynicism in the younger generation and ensure that a culture of rule of law and accountability takes root in the hearts, minds and souls of every young person in Ethiopia today and in coming generations.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn in The Gulag Archipelago wrote:
Young people are acquiring the conviction that foul deeds are never punished on earth, that they always bring prosperity. In keeping silent about evil, in burying it so deep within us that no sign of it appears on the surface, we are implanting it, and it will rise up a thousand fold in the future. When we neither punish nor reproach evildoers, we are not simply protecting their trivial old age, we are thereby ripping the foundations of justice from beneath new generations. It is going to be uncomfortable, horrible, to live in such a country!
Exactly seven years to the month, I wrote about the Ethiopian Gulag prison system.
I do not want to see the New Ethiopia we are struggling to build to be an uncomfortable and horrible country for our young people of today and tomorrow.
The only way to prevent future crimes against humanity is by learning from the past and by bringing criminal perpetrators swiftly to justice.
We must show absolute resolve in this commitment and learn from the experiences of others.
The great Nazi hunters spent decades dedicated to the search and arrest of Nazi criminals against humanity including Simon Wiesenthal, Efraim Zuroff, Serge and Beate Klarsfeld, Elliot Welles, Rafi Eitan and many others.
We must understand that the great Nazi hunters were all private individuals whose consciences were seared by the crimes against humanity committed on their people and were moved to action to bring those responsible to justice.
When the Nazi Hunters captured Holocaust organizer Adolf Eichmann, Mossad chief Isser Harel told his men: “For the first time in history the Jews will judge their assassin, and for the first time the world will hear the full story of the edict of annihilation against an entire people”.
In my tiny and insignificant, but absolutely unrelenting and indefatigable way, I too want the world to hear for the first time the full story of the massacres of hundreds of unarmed protesters in 2005 and see the people of Ethiopia pass judgement on the wicked gang of assassins responsible.
I know there are some who will laugh at me and say, “Here he goes again dreaming of the impossible. It will never happen. The criminals against humanity like Bereket Simon who were personally and directly responsible for untold murders, torture and gross human rights abuses in Ethiopia will never be brought to justice. He is wasting his time.”
My answer is simple.
The search for justice for victims of injustice is never, never a waste of time. Anytime is the right time to do justice.
Of course, they all laughed at me for the last 13 years and said I was dreaming an “impossible dream and fighting unbeatable foe carrying an unbearable sorrow” and crying in the wilderness trying to bring to the bar of justice a ruthless gang of murderous thugs.
I dare say my cries were not bootless. They helped bring a magnificent Abo Shemane (Cheetah) who goes by the name Abiy Ahmed.
My life has been all about dreaming about making the impossible possible.
Mandela said it best, “It all seems impossible until it is done.”
As PM Abiy said a few days ago, no one who has committed gross human violations and perpetrated corruption on the people of Ethiopia shall escape the long arms of the justice:
You cannot expect to walk freely after committing murder. The only choice is to be held in government custody or self-imprisonment. There is no one in Ethiopia today who has been accused by the government of committing corruption and human rights abuses who is not in custody. The only difference between those in government custody who are taken care of properly at public expense and those who have voluntarily jailed themselves. Those in official custody enjoy the benefits of proper accommodations, family visits, sports activities, access to reading and writing materials and are free from harassment in detention. I don’t think those who have imprisoned themselves enjoy these benefits.
No doubt, the fugitives from justice may hide out in their ethnic enclaves. They can remain holed up in fancy hotels or curl under the rocks from which they came. They may even sit quietly amongst us hoping not to be noticed.
The fact of the matter is they can run in circles all they want, but they can’t hide from the long arms of justice.
All of them will be brought to justice, if not today, tomorrow; if not tomorrow, next week or next month, next year or the years after that. Of that I am certain just as I am certain the sun will rise tomorrow.
In 2012, I told the criminals against humanity, “Justice will arrive like a slow, chugging and delayed train for those who have committed crimes against humanity and war crimes in Ethiopia.”
The Justice Train has arrived in Ethiopia emblazoned with the words, “Day of Judgment for the Wicked is at Hand”.
Bereket Simon, the chief architect of the Meles Massacres of 2005
On May 16, 2005, one day after the general election, the late Meles Zenawi declared a state of emergency and outlawed all public gatherings. He placed under his direct personal command and control all police, security and military forces, and replaced the capital’s city police with “federal” police and special forces.
In his state of emergency declaration, Meles Zenawi issued a shoot-to-kill order (see video, forward clip to 9:13):
It has been decided that all security forces are placed under a single command and they are accountable to the Prime Minister. I would like to announce on this occasion that, for a period of one month, all public demonstrations and meeting outside the home are prohibited. A directive has been issued to security forces to take severe action, severe action (sic) against those who have not accepted the [election] decision of the people with patience and grace.
In the coming weeks and months, Bereket Simon coordinated the implementation of Meles’ Directive with the security, police and military services.
Between May and November 2005, hundreds of unarmed protesters were shot and killed by security forces and hundreds more suffered severe gunshot wounds.
In an interview following the massacres, Bereket publicly declared
the individuals killed by soldiers and police during the protests were violent “hooligans” trying to break bus windows:
… Some hooligans and political members of CUD [opposition party Coalition for Unity and Democracy] started throwing stones and crashing buses. Government soldiers and police tried to protect the buses. The police had to defend themselves and shoot at the hooligans…
In June 2005, barely a month after the May 2005 election, Bereket Simon began talking about a genocide that makes Rwanda “child’s play”.
Talking to BBC’s Martin Plaut, Bereket Simon said the protesters were trying to create a genocide that would make the Rwandan genocide look like child’s play:
The alternative was strife between the different nationalities of Ethiopia which might have made the Rwandan genocide look like child’s play. If you allow people who defy law and order, [to] take matters into their own hands and government sits idly, not discharging its responsibility of maintaining law and order, anybody who feels they are capable of taking matters into their own hands will reign over society and that will definitely bring the whole Ethiopian society into turmoil. The alternative to this would have been much more disastrous where you might find millions or tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands perishing within the coming days and months. (Emphasis added.)
It is unimaginable how any person could think the deaths of nearly one million people in Rwanda as “child’s play”!!!
In November 2005, Prof. Christopher Clapham wrote:
It is difficult to exaggerate the enormous amount of damage that has been done to the EPRDF government by Bereket Simon, the… principal spokesman for the government. His neurotic and consistently inflammatory pronouncements, extending even to threats of an equivalent to the Rwanda genocide, have conveyed a very clear impression, both to the opposition and to the outside world, that the EPRDF is entirely unwilling to engage in any normal or reasonable political process…”
On the other hand, Meles was not concerned at all about a Rwanda-style genocide taking place as a result of the protests.
Meles simply tried to whitewash the bloody massacre as an outcome of lack of professionalism on the part of the police force in terms of managing such events. The government recognized that the police were under-trained for the task and under-equipped for the task. As a result we have worked on this and I believe it is now adequately addressed.”
In March 2007, Meles told Aljazeera, the killings occurred to repel a “challenge to the constitutional order in Ethiopia and that challenge had to be faced.
In February 2007, Meles told the Financial Times that “when people try to change the government by unconstitutional means, the normal thing is to take these people to court.”
So, why weren’t the election protesters arrested using normal non-lethal crowd control methods and brought to court?
But an official investigation established by Meles and his parliament “conclusively determined the protesters shot and killed and wounded by soldiers and police were unarmed and peaceful and did not commit any destruction of property.
The protesters posed no threat to the constitutional order nor were they trying to cause genocide.
The Inquiry Commission described the killing as follows:
This was a massacre. These demonstrators were unarmed yet the majority died from shots to the head … There is no doubt that excessive force was used. Many people were killed arbitrarily. Old men were killed while in their homes, and children were also victims of the attack while playing in the garden.
According to the July 18, 2007 report of the U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Meles Zenawi and his parliament
established an Inquiry Commission to investigate whether government security forces used excessive force, caused damage to life and property, or showed a lack of respect for human rights during disturbances that occurred on June 8, 2005, and November 1–10, 2005 in different parts of the country.
The Commission visited several regions, reviewed police reports, met with prisoners and government officials, made 122 radio and TV announcements to the public, examined 16,990 documents, and took testimonies from 1,300 people.
The Commission concluded that 763 civilians were injured and 193 killed. The Commission also reported that 71 police officers were injured and 6 killed. Damage to property was estimated at $512,588. The Commission also reported that more than 30,000 civilians were detained, some were tortured, and prisoners in Kaliti were killed.
The Commission reported that security forces fired 1,500 bullets at prisoners, killing 17 and injuring 53. The Commission stated that civilians did not use weapons and reported bank robberies by demonstrators did not take place.
Shortly after the Commission reached its decision, the Ethiopian Government reportedly began to put pressure on Commission members to change their report. The Chairman of the Commission, a former Supreme Court President of the Southern Region of Ethiopia, was told by a senior advisor of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to call for an emergency meeting of the Commission in order to change the Commission’s report. (Emphasis added.)
Who is Bereket Simon?
Bereket Simon’s birth name is Mebratu Gebrehiwot. He is presently in custody on corruption charges.
Prime Suspect in Crimes Against Humanity
Bereket Simon was the second-in-command, advisor, confidant, buddy, alter ego, evil twin, second-self, Meles’ left-hemisphere brain and the trigger finger on Meles Zenawi’s iron fist, among other things.
According to one report, Mebratu appropriated the name “Bereket Simon” from one Eritrean guerilla fighter who is said to be still alive today.
Those who know and have worked with Bereket Simon describe him in diabolical terms, a conscienceless man of extreme depravity and cruelty.
He has been likened to Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbles.
I would add Bereket Simon was also Meles Zenawi’s Albert Speer, Hitler’s closest friend and confidant who was responsible for the slave labor in the Nazi war machine.
Ana Gomes, Member of the European Parliament and the European Union’s chief observer for Ethiopia’s 2005 national elections does not mince words in describing Bereket Simon:
On August 24, 2018 Gomes tweeted,
That is good news. Bereket Simon is a callous, repressive, deceptive, liar and ruthless individual. I dealt with him extensively in the 2005 elections and will never forget our extremely tense conversation in the afternoon of the 8th June massacre of civilians, in Addis Ababa.
October 24, 2018 Gomes tweeted,
Bereket Simon is 1 of the cynical & cruel totalitarians with whom I have dealt in #Ethiopia. Should be tried for his crimes agst Ethiopians!
On August 31, 2018 Gomes tweeted,
Bereket Simon was Goebbels of #Ethiopia, as Propaganda minister of dictator Meles Zenawi. I will never forget his cruelty on 8 June 2005, with hundreds massacred in Addis Ababa, after stolen elections of May 15. I am for Truth Commissions, but worst criminals must go to trial.
On January 23, 2019, Gomes tweeted,
So. Finally that criminal Bereket Simon, ex-Goebbels of dictator Meles Zenawi, has been arrested in #Ethiopia. Many can breath better now.
Bereket Simon is also known for his utter mendacity, shameless lies, outrageous disinformation and calculated misinformation campaigns.
As Meles’ confidant and information minister, Bereket Simon undertook numerous campaigns to mislead the public.
After Ethiopian Satellite Television confirmed Meles Zenawi had died in 2012, Bereket Simon went on television and lied through his teeth to public that Meles was merely vacationing following medical observations for minor health issues. He assured the public Meles will be back on the job in just a few days.
A few days later, Bereket Simon went on television and declared, “After attending medical services abroad, the prime minister has passed away yesterday around midnight… Now is time for his remains to come back to Ethiopia and his funeral proceedings will be according to a plan prepared by a committee which deals with this…”
Of course, for there to have been a “prepared plan” for Meles’ funeral, he must have died days, if not weeks before, to set in motion a funeral planning committee. It appears unlikely that a full funeral plan would be prepared between midnight and early morning when Bereket Simon made the announcement.
However, during the many weeks the public was talking about Meles’ absence, Bereket Simon was telling a patently false story that Meles was on vacation and taking care of minor health problems and will be back on the job soon.
Meles Zenawi allegedly passed away on August 20, 2012. Meles’ cause of death remains a secret to this day!
In my August 5, 2012 commentary, “Day 46: Has Meles Zenawi Gone AWOL?”, I did a forensic analysis of the anecdotal evidence and concluded Meles has been dead for quite some time absent demonstrable evidence he is alive.
Bereket Simon is a ruthlessly vindictive man who believed he is so untouchable that he is ready to crucify anyone who even dares to talk to him in a manner Bereket believes is disrespectful.
Bereket Simon is the kind of humanoid who sees chaos, death and destruction everywhere, unaware of the fact that he and his TPLF thugs are the fountainheads of the chaos, death and destruction in Ethiopia over the past 27 years.
In a secretly recorded conversation, Bereket Simon told his partner-in-crime Addisu Legesse that those who disrespect him have the “potential to create chaos in the city” and must be isolated, targeted and destroyed whether they are friends or foes:
… But the incredible thing is that anyone to have the audacity to say something like this to me, one can see the potential of such individuals to create chaos in the city. So, all those who spread propaganda and people like that must be singled out and we must isolate them. Even those people who have been telling us for a long time that they are our friends in the past..
