Eritrean MP Germano Nati has been held incommunicado without trial since 2001, one of a group of 11 seized after criticizing the country’s president, Isaias Afwerki.
Germano Nati was an Eritrean freedom fighter and regarded as a champion of the Kumana people—a minority ethnic group living in the western part of the country. He joined the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (EPLF) in 1977 as it fought for independence from Ethiopia.
He became a leading public figure after independence was achieved in 1993. As well as being a member of the National Assembly and Executive Committee of the ruling PFDJ party, he was administrator of the Gash-Setit Province and head of social affairs in the Southern Red Sea region.
In 2001 he and other leading figures signed an open letter calling for peaceful democratic reforms. The authorities detained Germano Nati and 10 parliamentary colleagues.
Never charged or tried, Germano Nati is thought to have died of a bladder infection in March 2008 after more than six years in detention.
