Popular singer Teddy Afro had appeared in court today and was told to come back after 30 days. He was then taken back to his dark prison cell in Kality. Hundreds of the notorious Federal Police troopers had surrounded the courthouse as Teddy appeared before the judge. Journalists who went to the court, including ER’s undercover reporter, were roughed up by the police. Some were briefly detained and released after being told not to show up at Teddy’s next court appearance.
30 thoughts on “Judge tells Teddy Afro to return to court after 30 days”
This is how FORTUNE reported
The Federal High Court has this morning denied bail for the
release of Tewodros Kassahun (Teddy Afro). The 30-year-old sensational singer, who is accused of a hit and run homicide, will spend the duration of his trial in prison.
The court has ruled to hear four witnesses- all police constables- referred by the prosecutor against the singer on May 21, 2008. This was despite his defense lawyer Million Assefa’s request that the witnesses should testify within a maximum of one week, if not today.
The prosecutor rather requested the bench to be given a reasonable time to summon all the witnesses, and was therefore given 22 days.
When the proceeding was adjourned, the popular singer Teddy burst into tears, sources told Fortune. He was not alone: a number of fans that gathered to follow his trial, amid the tight security, left the compound crying.
On November 3, 2006, investigators from the Addis Abeba Police Commission arrested Teddy, accusing him of killing 18-year-old Degu Yibelete, a street dweller who came from Gojjam. After he was put under custody for a day, Teddy was released on 50,000Br bail on November 4.
The popular singer was formally charged on April 16, 2008 on two counts, homicide (including driving without license) and fleeing the scene of a crime. Homicide would carry up to a 15-year prison sentence and hence make him eligible for bail. Nevertheless, prosecutors added another charge of failure to help a victim whom one has injured. This involves an additional penalty of one month to two years, thus he could face up to 17 years in prison if found guilty.
Although his defense lawyer had requested the merger of the two charges in the earlier hearing, it was not accepted.
Ethiopian law stipulates that defendants involved in crimes carrying sentences greater than 15 years shall not be permitted bail.
delay #1
We will see more delays before any witness comes to the stand. Let’s not be surprised, this is a play Woyane is putting together to get rid of Teddy.
Expecting a fair trial will be like expecting Meles to admit his 2005 defeat…..
The gloomy part of the tragedy is in fact most of the Ethiopian judges comes from Tigray university/college with deficient BA degrees. Evidently, they only memorize punishments to different types of offenses. They neither have good education nor real life experience.
Being a judge in Ethiopia is simply memorizing a book, getting the so called “BA in Law”, and being loyal to the current regime. Taking all the above into consideration, one should not wonder why all the injustice has occurred in Ethiopia.
Please read the following Ethiomedia interview with Prof. Abigail Salisbury about law students and judges in Ethiopia
http://www.ethiomedia.com/abai/ethiomedia_interviews_abigail_salisbury.html
this is the time to rise.This is a show to the people zou cant bring anything.
Rise up.
This is touching my nerves. God be with him ..and truth will pervail. Daniel and Nestanet are out of prison, now woyanne is holding Teddy Afro hostage.
If Teddy has done such a barbaric act, he wouldn’t have the gut to stay in the country after he has been outside Ethio so many times. This is a vendetta and the price he is paying for loving his Emama Ethiopia.
We (specially the diaspora) are the cuases of all thiese ill treatments by the tyranny regime. We are not united and we can’t force the regime to change this kind of disgraceful act on our people. We rather getting divided and widening the gap between ourselves so that we can’t act on such matters. We should just support those who are fighting woyanne back home rather than dragging them backwards from the struggle for democracy.
May God give our country a lasting peace.
Should we call it the modern sophisticated east African justice or simply the weyane justice: its your call; however, if the case is about murder then where was the court of law when Meles ordered to slaughter nearly 153,000 in the war of Ethio-Eritrea just to prove his ego against his former masters; then where was the court of law when Meles murdered the 4000+ Anuaks; then where was the court of law when Meles ordered 193+ to be slaughtered infront of his masters door way (all the so called embassies and NGO offices); then where was the court of law when Meles took orders from his masters to slaughter Ethiopian children in Somalia. It’s ok to show their masters that there is a court of law in Ethiopia but it’s quite shocking how they murder and slaughter Ethiopian people and their masters are quite for unknown reasons- – shall I say. Hang-in-there the people of Ethiopia and Teddy these modern slaves will face the justice of all the people of Ethiopia and that includes the the whole horn of Africa which are becoming victims due to the slave mentality of weyane!
Gerum New Gerum New
Ande Ken Woyane Cadre hulu court yekerbal .Eskezia yezentuben menem aydel. Ye Ethiopia Almlake Hulun Yeferdal
We are dealing with small, vindictive minds who don’t deserve to administer a household let alone a nation of 77 million people.
Folks, brace yourselves for a long drawn-out mental torture by the Woyanne.
Here is the modus operandi of Woyanne courts:
— false charges that carry prison terms of more than 15
years;
— denial of bail
— most importantly, frequent, meaningless court appearances and postponements
— all of the above are meant to demean and humiliate the accused as well as his family and supporters. It also shows, at least in Woyanne minds, how powerful they are and how they can do whatever they want to anyone they don’t like — including a national icon such as Teddy.
My God help Ethiopia.
How about the 193 innocent lives killed by Meles’s Agazi army, who went to court and prison for it. Listen, if there was any justice in Weyanes’s Ethiopia, Meles will have been the first criminal who would have gone to KALITI.
There is no rule of law in Ethiopia and the is no Freedom of speech, no human rights. no….etc
There is only Weyane brute cave law in our beloved Ethiopia.
What we see today is in every place and direction; the wayanye regime to kill the morale of the people;but the more oppressed the fastest his death will came !!!!!!!!!The main thing is ; WE are to be together to throw him to grave.THE people win !!!!! also WE are at the side of “TEddy”
Ey Emama Ethiopia Yemotelish Kerto Yegedelesh…..I am very very disappointed with today`s news.Hey guys we have to do something atleast to show that the ethiopa people is with teddy untill his release.I remember what Dr. Birhanu Says after their release:above all things what made us more worried during our stay in prison was that “TERESAN WEY YEMILEW NEBER”.Hey what all concerned ethiopia people did during the time kinijit leaders were in kality was a great courage for them and makes life much easier than what it would be.Ebakachuh yetekenaje neger hono we have to do every thing untill his release.Weyane yefelegew yelijun tinikare lematifat new,egna degimo teddy malet legna min malet endehone masayet alebin.Rise up rise up ethiopian peope
On what planet do Murderers become Judges, Robbers become leaders?
Answer: in Tigrai Planet
we must say enough is enough to this shameless regime.the problem is knocking every door.may god be with dear teddy!!!!
got nothing to say,but killing tedy won’t save the woyanes.More Teddies will be borne who will burn woyanes.
My friends,Endargachew and birhanu decided the right thing ! you can not bring woyane to negotiation by peaceful struggle.because,meles wants to negotiate with OLF than Birtukan .So,the real option is Arm struggle !!Believe me,other wise you will continue crying for the next 100 years.
Experiance from victims of” weyane” regime showed that every opposition party members or supporters, even some “weyane” members too are periodically listed long before to be politically arrested, systematically to be killed or tactic fully to loose their jobs or endangering their organization, at any time “weyane” beliefs “this is the appropriate time this person/group/organization has to be erased”. Don’t know that MELES and his group are the followers of MAKIYAVI ideology, demoralization strategy. Weyanes are in a DAILY NIGHT DISCUSSION about everybody in multiples sites of the country while the rest of us in sleep. Still Meles alive in power only by his hidden intelligence part since his party birth, neither by his strong military nor by his social support. This is the most neglected part by most Ethiopian. So it is the core issue to attack or compete his tactics/intelligence more than shouting. See history no one share power by shouting/disorganized movement except “eyarico” in the bible. We should not twist his left hand while he is right handed.
We blame Woyane for nothing, We are the number one enemy for Mother Ethiopia, Guys, let us wake up, We will see more of this for years to come as long as doing what we are doing.. Shum on us !!
በችሎቱ ብዙ ደህንነቶች ነበሩ፣ 20 ሰዎች ታስረዋል
(Ethiopia Zare ማክሰኞ ሚያዝያ 21 ቀን 2000 ዓ.ም. April 29, 2008)፦ ታዋቂው ድምጻዊ ቴዎድሮስ ካሳhuን የዋስትና መብት የማይሰጠው መሆኑንና ክሱን በእስር ቤት ሆኖ እንዲከታተል ዛሬ የዋለው ችሎት መወሰኑን የአዲስ አበባው ሪፖርተራችን ከችሎት ዘገበ።
ቴዲ አፍሮ የተከሰሰበት በ1996 በወጣው የወ/መ/ህ/ቁ 543 ንዑስ ቁጥር 3 ሲሆን የዋስትና መብቱ የተከለከለው በወ/መ/ህ/ቁ 63 ንዑስ ቁጥር 3 መሰረት መሆኑንና ይህም ህግ የተከሰሰበት ወንጀል አስራአምስት አመት የሚያስቀጣው ከሆነና የተከሰሰበት ሰው የሞተ ከሆነ ተከሳሹ የዋስትና መብቱ ይከለከላል የሚል መሆኑን በፍርደ ገምድልነቱ የሚታወቀው የኢህአዴግ ፍርድ ቤት የገለጸ ሲሆን ቴዎድሮስ ካሳሁን የተከሰሰበት ወንጀል እስከ 15 አመት የሚያስቀጣው በመሆኑና የተከሰሰበት ግለሰብ የሞተ በመሆኑ የዋስትና መብት ሊሰጠው አይገባም ሲል ዛሬ ሚያዝያ 21/2000 የዋለው ችሎት በ’ማረሚያ ቤት’ ሆኖ ክሱን ይከታተል ሲል መወሰኑን ለማወቅ ችለናል።
አቃቢ ህግ ኮከቡ ድምጻዊ ላይ አለኝ የሚለውን ምስክሮችና ማስረጃ ይዞ ለግንቦት 13 እንዲቀርብ የተወሰነ መሆኑንም ምንጮቻችን አክለው ገልጸዋል።
በተጨማሪም ሁለት ጋዜጠኞችን ጨምሮ 20 ግለሰቦች ታስረው የተዋከቡ ሲሆን በችሎቱ ውስጥ የህዝቡን ያህል የደህንነት ሰዎች ተሰግስገው እንደነበርና በሶስት ካሜራ በመቅረጽ የህዝቡን እንቅስቃሴ በጥንቃቄ ሲከታተሉ መቆየታቸውን ምንጮቻችን የገለጹ ሲሆን በፍርድ ቤቱ ጀርባ ታግተው የነበሩት ሰዎችም ተፈትሸው የሞባይል ስልኮቻቸውን ከመነጠቃቸውም በላይ ‘ለምን ለሌላው ሰው አልመጣችሁም’፣ ‘ቴዲ ምን ስለሆነ ነው’፣ ‘አርፋችሁ ስራችሁን ለምን አትሰሩም’፣ በማለትና በተለይም ጋዜተኞችን ‘ወሬ እየለቀማችሁ’፣ ወሬ አቀባባዮች፤ በማለት ለአምስት ሰአታት ካቆዩዋቸው በኋላ የተወሰኑትን የለቀቁ ሲሆን የቀሩትን ይህ ዜና እስከተጠናቀረበት ጊዜ ድረስ በእስር ላይ መሆናቸውን ለመረዳት ችለናል።
ይህ የወያኔ ካድሬዎችና የደህንነት ሰዎች ሴሌብሪቲ ወይንም ዝነኛነት ምን ማለት እንደሆነ ምንም እውቀት የሌላቸው መሆኑን የሚያስረዳና ትልቅ ክብር ላለው የጋዜጠኝነት ሙያ ምንም ክብር የሌላቸው መሆኑን የሚያስረዳ ነው የሚሉ አንድ አስተያት ሰጭ አዛውንት ቴዲ ዝነኛና በሀገሪቱ ካሉ እውቅ ግለሰቦች አንዱ በመሆኑ አድናቂዎቹ ስራ መተውም ሆነ አለመተው መብታቸው ሆኖ ሳለ በመሃይማን የደህንነት ስብስብ እንዲህ አይነት ጸያፍ አነጋገር መስማት የሚጠበቅ ቢሆንም ሆኔታውን ማየታቸው እጅግ እንዳሳዘናቸው በስፍራው የነበሩ አንድ አዛውንት በምሬት መናገራቸው ታውቋል።
በተያያዘም ቴዎድሮስ ካስ ካሳሁን የዋስትና መብት ሊሰጠው ይገባል፣ ክሱ ሁለት አመት የቆና ሆን ተብሎ ድምጻዊውን ለማጥቃት የተነሳ ነው የሚሉ ኢትዮጵያዊያን በትላንትናው እለት ዋሽንግተን በሚገኘው የኢትዮጵያ ኢምባሲ በር ላይ ሰላማዊ ሰልፍ ማድረጋቸው የተዘገበ ሲሆን በሰልፉላይ ዝነኛው አርቲስት ታማኝ በየነን ጨምሮ በርካታ አርቲስቶች መገኘታቸው ታውቋል።
I bet you TPLF DR. is cooking something for Teddy Afro.From what I heard that who know what kind of TPLF leaders are I am not getting a good vibe for Mr Teddy going back to that dark hole.The longer MR Teddy stays in that hole the worst it will get.Teddy must be free NOW or if he ever gets out he’ll not be living a long time b/c TPLF DR will give him some poison shots before he gets if he ever gets in fews weeks he’ll be dead.Mark my word people….if you really care about Teddy the time is now to act.Oh my sorry you people live in America …you’r too far from the Kailit Dark Hole Prison” too bad Mr Teddy.TPLF loves to play games.
Meles Zenawi has already decided the outcome. It is all a drama now. Since when did they have judges or lawyers in ethiopia? isn’t it all woyane stuff, down there?
If there was a rule of Law, ZENAWI has to be the first person to face justice for all the crimes he committed for more than 30 years.
We all Ethiopians have to be united and fight the woyanne rigime once and for all.
Tedy we love you so much and it is my prayer and wish for your freedom.
Death to MELES AND Azeb Mesfin
Would you please allow me to post here a paragraph from an article on Addis Voice by Yilma Bekele on 28 April 2008
“As their imprisonment of Kinijit leaders ended up galvanizing the country against them, as their unprovoked invasion of Somalia is uniting the Somali against them, so will the imprisonment of our favorite son make us angry and end up making us see the real nature of Woyane. We have three thousand years of built up ‘Ethiopianess’ DNA interwoven in our very essence. … May the Ethiopian God give Teddy the strength in this time of hardship! ”
Alah Yibarkih – Ato Yilma
The reaction to Teddy’s jail summs up Ethiopia’s problems. People are more touched by his incarceration than the massacre of 400 people in Gambela, than the current ethnic clensing in Ogaden and the oppression, torture and extra judicial killing of the Oromo people. And we claim – united Ethiopia. Clear though it may be that the woyanes intention is to silence critics rather than justice for a poor homless boy, we need to get our priorities right. As proud united people I would have thought we should have been more outraged and rise in unison against the attrocities to our Oromo, Ogaden and Agnuak brothers. Today one ethnic group tomorrow the rest of us. Let our claim to unity not be a lip service.
Let us hear to our Honorable human rights defender Mr. Obang Meto’s call for the may 15th worldwide rally and our slogans should sound as follows:
1) Let the world knows about Ethiopian hidden genocide!
2) World court at Hague please investigates the unjust massacre of over 150,000 young soldiers over the border conflict of the years 1998-2000.
3) Melese Zenawi and his TPLF party have ordered the massacre of over 200 people in Addis for they used their basic rights to peacefully demonstrate to tell the world that democracy has been reversed in Ethiopia by the use of force.
4) UN, World court, European parliament please investigate the over 400 Anuaks massacre of 1983 which was admitted by Human right groups.
5) Please investigate the killing of University students in Addis
6) Investigate the killing in Oromia, Gonder, Awasa, Areusi, Ogaden
8) Release over 40,000 Ethiopians who are still in prisons of TPLF in different parts of Ethiopia.
9) Stop the massacre in Somalia. “Weyane army”, get out of Somalia!
10) Investigate the looting of Ethiopia by TPLF, and the stilling of Ethiopian Gold.
11) Release the Ethiopian beloved son “TEDI AFRO”, and stop the revenge against him and Ethiopia. Fair trial if he have been guilty .Free unless proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt
12) We condemn any kind of extremism, but stop massacring poor civilians under the slogan “WAR ON TERRORISM”.
Thank you
Weyane eyekeledebin zim bilo mekemetu yangebegibal.I think alamoudi has something to do with this.
i think its time to unite against the woyane once and for all east africa should unite eritrea somalia and ethiopians we have to unite and fight the woyane devil which is jailing our beloved teddy afro
i am very sorry about our beloved son teddy afro. IF we are ethiopian we have to fight “devil woyane”. may god bless ethiopia.
As to the insiders, Teddy will be forced to the extent to demand pardon as the former Kinijit leaders did in order to be released
The aim of the regime is to make morally weaken such people who can serve as symbol of unity and transcend their evil divide and rule policy.
As to my view let’s not spend our time in much of talking.
The only solution to get rid Woyanne from our country is to follow and support the path of Andargachew and D/r Birhanu Nega that is to wage armed resistance or use all means of struggle so as to break woyanne.
Thank you,Tikusat
I would like to add to what you have said this:
These words are said to have been taken from someone like the Ethiopian Spritual patriot Abune Petros.
“I’D RATHER DIE ON MY FEET,
THAN LIVE ON MY KNEES”
Igziabher ke Teddy gar yihun !
I was not suprised about teddy’s arrest,as a matter of fact i was very suprised when teddy went back home.They were waiting for the right time and reason to arrest this boy and that is what they did.