Ermias Debessai (jailed): Ermias Debessai (Papayo) is one of the founding members of the EPLF. He joined the Eritrean liberation movement in 1967. He has served the in various positions during the struggle; including as foreign representative of the EPLF in, among others, the UK where he enticed the well-know African Editor of the BBC, Martin Plaut to visit the liberated areas of Eritrea. After liberation he was Eritrean Ambassador to China and then to Uganda. He was recalled from Uganda and arrested in 1997 on allegations of corruption. In the kangaroo courts of Isaias Afewerki, he was sentenced for seven years. He never had the chance to defend himself or hire a lawyer. Ermias is married and they have two children. While in prison, he was sick. I had a chance to visit him at the former Ethiopian military base 35stegna (Setanta Otto). My memory of Debessai goes back to Durfo when I was a young kid. When I went to Durfo to bring stuff from Asmara I heard his name Papayo and that of Vainac (Aspirin). As a child I was impressed by these two nick names. Ermias was “released” from prison in 2001/2002 when the world was criticizing the Eritrean regime for the arrest of the G15. To deviate the attention, the regime “released” Ermias Debessai while in fact, he was put under house arrest; till his rearrest on Saturday November 15, 2003 together with his younger sister, Sennaity Debessai, mother of two children. Credit : Habtom Yohannes
Posted on: Wed, 10 Sep 2014 06:01:04 +0000
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