Ethiopia court reduces sentence of jailed activist

ADDIS ABABA, Jailed Ethiopian opposition party activist Yonatan Tesfaye could walk free in the coming months after a court on Monday ordered his sentence shortened by three years, his lawyer told AFP. 
The former spokesman for the opposition Blue Party was found guilty last May of encouraging terrorism and sentenced to six years and six months in prison. 
But the Supreme Court reduced that sentence to three years and six months after attorney Shebru Belete Birru argued that Yonatan should be sentenced under Ethiopia's criminal code rather than its anti-terrorism law, under which he was originally convicted. 
Shebru welcomed the reduction but said he was still "not comfortable about the sentence" against his client. 
If he earns credit for good behaviour, Yonatan could be released as early as April, though the decision ultimately rests with prison authorities, Shebru said. 
Yonatan was arrested in December 2015 after writing on Facebook that the government had used "force against the people instead of using peaceful discussion with the public." 
His detention came shortly after the start of anti-government protests by the country's largest ethnic group, the Oromos, which led the government to impose a 10-month state of emergency in October 2016. 
Ethiopia's government has been criticised by rights groups and the United Nations's human rights chief for prosecuting people who express dissent. 
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