* Ex-dictator, officers sentenced for genocide in 2008
* Mengistu not in group
* Group, religious leaders appealed for leniency
By Aaron Maasho
ADDIS ABABA, June 3 (Reuters) - Ethiopia said on Wednesday it had commuted the death sentences of 23 of former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam's henchmen convicted of genocide in 2008, reducing the penalties to life imprisonment after an appeal.
