Widespread controversy and grief have erupted in Tigray following the sudden acquittal and release of two men previously convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the brutal 2023 murder of 32-year-old Zewdu Haftu.
The regional women’s rights organization Yikhono announced that the accused, Yared Gebreselasie and Angesom Hailemariam, were released after a Mekelle court overturned their convictions—less than a month after their original life sentences without parole were handed down. Civil society advocates and the victim’s family have raised serious concerns regarding judicial integrity and official influence, noting that Yared Gebreselasie is the son of Commissioner Gebreselasie Belay, former Tigray Police Commissioner and current commander of the 22nd Army.
The case stems from the horrific events of August 19, 2023 (Nehasse 13, 2015 E.C.), during the Ashenda festival celebrations in Mekelle, where Zewdu Haftu had gone out to join festivities and mark a friend’s birthday. According to investigative records, she was ambushed in the Adi Hawsi neighborhood, severely beaten in public, and run over by a vehicle that dragged her body before leaving it on the street.
The initial two-year judicial process was fraught with severe disruptions and courtroom drama, as defense affiliates repeatedly created chaos and issued direct threats toward the presiding judges. Despite defense attempts to secure lenient sentencing by claiming pre-existing medical conditions—claims refuted by official medical evaluations—the court verified their guilt based on physical and forensic evidence and handed down a life sentence without parole.
However, after the defense appealed to the Regional Supreme Court and subsequently the Cassation Bench, the case was remanded back to the lower court, where the decision was abruptly reversed. Speaking to BBC Amharic, the victim’s younger sister, Birtukan Haftu, explained that the acquittal hinged on the sudden disappearance of critical digital evidence from the regional court archives during the appeal process.
The missing file contained detailed technical evidence provided by federal intelligence authorities in Addis Ababa, which used SIM card activity, device IMEI codes, and GPS tracking to trace Zewdu’s stolen phone directly to Angesom and Yared in the days following her death. During recent proceedings, court officials revealed that the original federal document had gone missing from the court registry, and when a police commander presented a secondary device in court, judges noted that the physical identification codes no longer matched the initial records, prompting the court to order an acquittal.
The sudden release has dealt a devastating emotional blow to the victim’s family, who had already suffered the loss of Zewdu’s father during the prolonged trial—a death relatives attribute to severe heartbreak over the murder. Describing the verdict as a “second death” for the family, Birtukan Haftu expressed deep anguish over the collapse of the case, while advocacy groups warning that the decision severely compromises public trust in the rule of law and the safety of women in the region.
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