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By Lammii Guddaa Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, September 1997 Introduction The situation within Ethiopia's legal system, especially in the federal courts, leaves one wondering if justice can really be administered. Ethiopia's current population stands at nearly 57 million (statistics from the 1994 Housing and Population census). Since the demise of the Derg's one-party rule in 1991, attempts have been made to decentralize power along the lines of ethnic-based regional states. Ethiopia has nine states, and two chartered cities with special administrative autonomy directly answerable to the Prime Minister's office. The whole system is of a federal type. The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is thus composed of nine regional states with their own Constitutions, government and judicial systems. Ethiopia's Judicial System Ethiopia's judicial system is based on the concept of decentralisation of power, and so there are two parallel court systems within the judicial system: 1) The Federal Courts; 2) The Regional State Courts with their own independent structures and administration. It should also be noted that there is no jury system in Ethiopia's judicial administration. Becoming a Federal Judge A judge appointed to the Federal court system, is appointed for life, but this has proved to be an impractical arrangement. The number of judges in the federal courts is determined by the federal parliament. In the appointment of judges, the tribal (ethnic composition) of the courts has to be kept in mind.
Independence Judges are "checked-upon" One Judges's Testimony “In coming to decisions, we have been forced to give wrong verdicts against innocent citizens. In 1995, I was appointed as a Federal High Court Judge. During my tenure on the Bench, I was ordered to pass verdicts of 15 years in prison, on three defendants accused of killing supporters of the party in power (The Ethiopian People's Democratic Revolutionary Front). But, to label people as criminals without any substantiated evi-dence, is against my moral and professional standards. As a result, I was dismissed from office, having been informed by certain politicians who were entirely ignorant of any legal training, that I was “incompetent”. They said that's why I had been dismissed”.Judges are frequently dismissed (in spite of an acute shortage of trained court personnel) for what is termed “corruption”, “bribery” and “nepotism”. Dismissals are considered during the course of “Review Meetings” during which “criticism” and “self-criticism” are the order of the day. The reality is, the judges in question have failed to follow the party line. During the course of these so-called “Review Meetings”, a total of 480 judges and public prosecutors are reported to have been removed from office during the period 1996-1997. Here, party-affiliated laymen, (as distinct from the legally qualified), are given a free hand to blindly utter defamatory statements against the judges. Justice Delayed Former government officials have been charged with genocide and war crimes, or with aggravated homicide and wilful injury. The Special Prosecutor's Office (SPO) was established in August 1992, with a mandate to establish an 'Historical Record' of abuses committed during the Derg regime, and to bring to justice, those criminally responsible for human rights' violations. Girma Wakjira, the SPO's head, said in a recent press statement, that so far, 5,198 people have been charged, of which 2,246 have been in detention since 1991. The rest have been charged in absentia. (It should be noted that 25 former government officials have been charged with “aggravated homicide” and 54 with “war crimes”. Others have been charged with “genocide”.) The SPO says that evidence has been amassed on microfilm; thousands of witnesses have already given their testimony, but so far, no Derg official has been sentenced. In fact, not even half the detainees' cases have been heard. And the reason? According to the SPO, it's the lack of trained personnel needed to undertake the due legal process. Ironically, hundreds of law graduates are being forced to leave their jobs, because of unfair and unfounded accusations of corruption or incompetence made against them. Training and Salary Some non-governmental organisations also organise in-service training courses for judges. This is done once a year, in the form of workshops and seminars. The government cooperates in these courses. Salaries paid to judges are now much smaller than in previous administrations. It is difficult to estimate if the salaries are sufficient for a judge to be able to “manage” on what he receives and thus remain over and above all suspicion of corruption. (Ethiopia has a high inflation rate). Citizens and the Law Once a person has been arrested, he must appear before a legally constituted court within 48 hours. He has a right to consult a lawyer before answering any questions put to him by the police. If the accused can prove he hasn't got the wherewithal to pay a lawyer, he must be assigned a defense counsellor who is paid by the State. But for opposition political suspects and for those who fall afoul of the government, there's a completely different “process”. There's no question of producing a legal warrant before arrest, and the “due process of law” is conveniently ignored. That's why today, there are thousands of clandestine detention centres in Ethiopia. Amnesty International and other humanitarian organisations have at times exposed the human rights abuses, existing in such places. It's curious that the Meles government denies they even exist! But everyone knows that, daily, people are taken from their homes or work places, and dragged off to detention centres. Why? Because they support opposition political parties. Where, then, is justice? Reproduced from PeaceLink 1998
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