'Lawyers denied' in Ethiopia case

Many of the country's opposition leaders are now in jail

More than 80 people facing treason and genocide charges in Ethiopia have complained that they have not been allowed access to their lawyers.

The opposition leaders, reporters and aid workers appeared in court on Wednesday a month after their arrest.

Their charges relate to November's street clashes that killed 46 people over disputed polls in May, won by Prime Minster Meles Zenawi's party.

The judge ordered their return to prison while he considered bail.

Mr Meles has come under strong international criticism amid allegations that his government is reneging on democratic commitments.

Some 8,000 people have been freed since opposition arrests after two waves of poll protests in June and November in which more than 80 people died.

Death penalty

The BBC's Abdirahman Koronto in Addis Ababa says there was a strong security presence outside the courtroom and many police and military were deployed around the capital.

We are all responsible people with no criminal record and are leaders Lawyer Yenenhe Mulatu

In court, Judge Adil Ahmed repeatedly asked the defendants if they understood the charges against them.

Under Ethiopian law, the sentences for the various offences range from three years imprisonment to the death penalty.

"The prison administration has denied us access to our lawyers to discuss the gravity of the charges. I have nothing to say," Hailu Shawel, chairman of the main opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), told the court, Reuters news agency reports.

Another CUD defendant, a lawyer, urged the judge to release them on bail, saying it was their right under Ethiopia's constitution.

"We are all responsible people with no criminal record and are leaders. (We) request the court to grant us bail," Yenenhe Mulatu said.

'Too serious'

But the judge adjourned the hearing until 4 January when he said he would rule on the bail requests.

At least 46 people died in a week of violence in November

Prosecuting lawyers say the charges are too serious for the detainees to be released.

In total, 130 are facing charges in connection with the unrest that followed the May elections.

Thirty of them remain on the run.

Hundreds more who were detained immediately after the wave of street clashes in November have been released.

Mr Meles' Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front won a majority in polls but the opposition gained many seats.

The opposition is made up of the two broad groupings - the CUD and the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces.