Ethiopian court hands death sentence to Mengistu

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia's supreme court on Monday sentenced to death former Marxist ruler Mengistu Haile Mariam, granting a prosecution appeal that argued a life sentence he was given for genocide was unequal to his crimes.

But Mengistu, who has lived a life of comfortable exile in Zimbabwe since he was driven from power in 1991, is unlikely to face punishment unless Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe loses a run-off election next month.

"Considering the prosecution's appeal that a life sentence was not commensurate to the crimes committed by the Mengistu regime, the court decided to sentence him to death," the court said in its ruling.

The prosecution in July appealed the life sentence handed to Mengistu in January 2007, when he was found guilty of genocide in absentia for the thousands of people killed during his 17-year reign.