A top Ethiopian opposition figure has been shot dead and his body was found on the side of a road in his hometown in Meki, in the troubled Oromia region.
Bate Urgessa, 41, was an outspoken critic of the government and had been jailed on several occasions.
Family members told the local news site, Addis Standard, that people who “looked like government security forces” took him from his hotel room on Tuesday night.
The Oromia regional government denied that security forces were involved.
Urgessa was arrested again late on Tuesday by “government armed forces” at a hotel in the town of Meki, 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of the capital Addis Ababa, OLF spokesperson Lemi Gemechu said.
“He was then briefly taken to a detention centre in the city. Bate’s family confirmed that he was found dead on a road in a place called Melissa, on the outskirts of Meki town,” Lemi said.
The body was found on Wednesday morning, he said, adding that they could not tell if the forces who arrested Bate were from the federal or regional government.
There was no immediate comment from the federal government but the regional authorities said attempts to blame it for the “assassination” were not acceptable.
OLF, which considers itself the mouthpiece of the populous Oromo people, said in a statement that it had learnt about the death “with agony and grave sadness”.
“The unwarranted and extrajudicial killing of conscious and active Oromo political and cultural figures has been a systematic and irresponsible act of silencing the Oromo throughout years and decades,” it said.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) — an independent state-affiliated body — on Wednesday urged both the regional and central governments to conduct a “prompt, impartial and full investigation” into Bate’s killing.
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