After official complaints made to Ethiopia’s government about increasing persecution of Christians in Silte (a Muslim-dominated area of southern Ethiopia) surfaced in the media, a district court charged six members of the administrative committee of an Ethiopian Orthodox church with inciting public disturbance, destroying public trust in government officials, and spreading hatred. The court found the men guilty on 7 August and sentenced them to between five and nine years in prison. The men were members of St Mary’s Orthodox church in Kilto, in the Silte zone of SNNP state. The zone came into existence after the Silte people unanimously chose to form a separate zone in a 2001 referendum. A number of Ethiopia’s prominent Muslim politicians come from Silte, including the current Minister of Defence, the Minister of Communications and the current caucus leader for women’s affairs in the federal parliament.