Ethiopia's Federal High Court on Tuesday adjourned the trial of former strongman Mengistu Haile Mariam and his followers, who are accused of committing crimes against humanity and genocide, for mid-January 2007.

The court was expected to pass verdict on the file on Tuesday.

The court indicated it was unable to pass verdict as it has been receiving additional defense evidences submitted by some of the defendants.

It said judges were assigned and have been looking into the file.

As some of the written evidences were presented in English, Russian, French and Chinese languages, the court ordered the defendants to submit the translated versions of their evidences until June.

The court also ordered prosecutors to comment on the translated versions of the evidences.

Mengistu, now nearing 70 and living in comfortable exile in Zimbabwe, is accused of killing tens of thousands of people after toppling Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974.

The co-accused include former prime minister Fikre Selassie Wogderesse, former vice-president Fissiha Desta, and about 40 other top officials from the Mengistu era who have been in prison awaiting a verdict since 1992.

Source: Xinhua