by Lammii Guddaa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, September 1997
THEME = JUSTICE
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 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.
Citizens become judges by appointment. Judges who serve in the Federal Court system are appointed by the Federal Parliament, whereas those in the Regional State Courts are appointed by their respective Regional Administrative Councils.
The process of appointing judges to the Federal Courts, is undertaken first of all by the President of the Federal Supreme Court. He lists the applicants and presents their names to the Federal Judiciary Commission. The Commission examines the curriculum vitae of each applicant, and then presents their names for approval before Parliament. Parliament considers each application and either approves or rejects the applications. The process looks transparent and fair. But since most Members of Parliament are from the ruling party, there is no meaningful argument or debate in Parliament to approve or reject applicants.
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.
It's difficult for a judge to remain independent of political or party ideological influence. Those judges or magistrates who are determined to stick to their professional ethics, have a short tenure in office - unless, of course, they are prepared to compromise their ethical principles, and support the ruling party's political stance.
Judges are "checked-up on". Government representatives keep a close eye on judges' work and decisions handed down. If a particular judge fails to measure up to what is "required of him by government and party, then the chances are, the judge's appointment will be rapidly terminated.
A former judge, now working as a private lawyer and who wishes to remain anonymous, says: "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.
The fact is, Ethiopia cannot afford to lose all these judges and other trained legal personnel. Thousands of court cases are piling up and it is hard for litigants to get a hearing. Two-years' delay in hearing cases is quite commonplace.
Here's an example of what's happening: 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.
In general, Ethiopia's judges do not receive any special training for their job. A Law Degree is not necessary for appointment. However, this does not mean that there are no judges with Law Degrees. Indeed, some judges have graduated from Addis Ababa University with Bachelor of Law Degrees. There are also judges who have managed to get a certain amount of practical training (anything from 3-6 months) before sitting on the Bench. Some non-governmental organisations also organise inservice- 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).
According to the provisions of the federal constitution and the federal penal code, an officer of the law has to present a warrant before taking anybody into custody. This warrant must be issued by a court which has legal jurisdiction in the area. But this stipulation is hardly ever put into practice. Arrests are carried out without a legal warrant.
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, there's a completely different "process" for those who fall foul of the government. 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 eve- ryone 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?
END