Kangaroo court judge Leul Gebremariam has ordered the arrest of Teddy Afro’s lawyer, Ato Million Assefa today. On the judge’s order, and publishers of AddisNeger newspaper, Ato Mesfin Negash and Ato Girma Tesfaw, have also been arrested today in Addis Ababa, according to Ethiopian Review sources.
Judge Leul ordered the arrest of the lawyer and the newspaper publishers after they published a report last Saturday that Ato Million was about to lodge a complaint against the judge and the translator for Menilik Hospital to the board of judicial administration.
Publisher Mesfin Negash and Deputy Publisher Girma Tesfaw were picked up by police in the morning and brought before Judge Leul for hearing in the afternoon. After answering some questions, the judge released the deputy publisher, but ordered the chief publisher to return to jail and come back to court tomorrow.
The lawyer, Ato Million Assefa, was arrested later tonight local time.
Ato Million is a Woyanne sympathizer who is also said to be one of authors of the new restrictive press law that was recently passed by the rubber-stamp parliament.
Teddy Afro’s friends and fans are puzzled why Million was hired to represent the popular singer. Legal expert say that Million has so far done a poor job of representing Teddy in and outside of the court.