Snellville man sentenced to 30 years for fraudulently obtaining US citizenship
ATLANTA - A 67-year-old Snellville man has been sentenced for fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship to conceal his involvement in the "Red Terror," a brutal campaign of oppression and mass killings that occurred in Ethiopia starting in 1976.
Mezemr Abebe Belayneh, also known as "Mezmur Amare Belayneh," was sentenced by United States District Court Judge William M. Ray, II, to 36 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release, after being convicted on July 26, 2023.
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"Mezemr Belayneh violently beat political opponents in Ethiopia and lied about it to U.S. immigration authorities. Through this deception, he unlawfully entered this country and obtained U.S. citizenship," said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
The Red Terror, a period marked by brutal violence in the late 1970s, witnessed the detention, interrogation, torture, and execution of thousands of perceived political opponents by Ethiopia’s ruling military council and its supporters. Belayneh played a role as a civilian interrogator at Menafesha, a makeshift prison in Dilla, Ethiopia, where he detained teenage victims, interrogated them about their political beliefs, and directed severe beatings, including whippings and stick hits. He also forced prisoners to physically fight for the amusement of prison guards.
"When a person attempts to become a U.S. citizen under false pretenses, it jeopardizes our naturalization process, and we will not stand idly by for war criminals and human rights violators to use our nation as a safe haven," emphasized Executive Associate Director Katrina W. Berger of Homeland Security Investigations.
"We hope that today’s sentencing brings a measure of peace and closure to the defendant’s courageous victims—some of whom testified at trial—and sends a clear message to others that we will continue to investigate and prosecute human rights abusers who fraudulently obtain U.S. citizenship," stated U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan.
The investigation was carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, and the case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Tal C. Chaiken and Trial Attorney Patrick Jasperse of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section, with assistance from HRSP Senior Historian Dr. Christopher Hayden and the Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs.