An Ethiopian court has sentenced the country's former dictator, Mengistu Haile Mariam, to life in prison for genocide.
He is currently in exile in Zimbabwe.
The sentence, handed down in absentia, followed the Ethiopian Federal High Court's conviction in December of Mengistu and 11 of his top aides on 211 counts of genocide, homicide, illegal imprisonment and illegal property seizure.
The marathon 12-year trial ended on 12 December, when a further 60 defendants were also found guilty of genocide, but only by a majority 2-1 ruling by the judges, who acquitted some but not all on several of the lesser charges.
Mengistu and his aides had faced a possible death sentence.
Only one defendant was acquitted on all charges.
The trial related to atrocities committed during the 1977-78 'Red Terror' period when tens of thousands of people were killed or disappeared in Mengistu's bid to turn Ethiopia into a Soviet-style workers' state.
Zimbabwe's government has ruled out the prospect of extraditing the former Ethiopian leader, describing him as 'our special guest'.
