We are deeply shocked and dismayed to hear the guilty verdict of the 38 courageous human rights advocates, elected parliamentarians, and opposition leaders. This decision clearly demonstrates that the judicial process is controlled and managed by the ruling party in Ethiopia.
The verdict by the Court also proves beyond doubt that the Courts lack the necessary and required independence from political influence. These prisoners were deliberately and systematically misled by the Prime Minster’s office that a peaceful resolution was possible. In fact, on a number of occasions we were led to believe that an agreement between the prisoners and the Prime Minister was reached.
We strongly condemn this politically driven and unjust guilty verdict. This kind of authoritarian behavior will only lead to more violence and instability. What crime did the prisoners commit? They ran for parliament and won. Many Ethiopians lost their lives under this regime and many have been tortured while in prison. The Commission of Inquiry that the Ethiopian Parliament established to investigate the June 8, 2005 and November 1-10, 2005 violence, concluded that 193 civilians were killed and 763 injured by government security forces.
This regime not only murdered innocent civilians in the streets of the capital, but also killed prisoners who were locked up in their quarters. According to the Commission, security forces fired 1,500 bullets at prisoners inside the corrugated iron building, killing 17 and injuring 53 prisoners. Now, who is guilty of multiple crimes? The prisoners or the government whose own Commission of Inquiry stated that security forces used excessive force against civilians?
Once again, we call for the immediate release of these prisoners without condition.
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Contact: Kerry McKenney
JUNE 12, 2007 (202) 225-3436
From: Tegbar League Central Executive Committee, Addis Ababa
Attn: All foreign companies operating in Ethiopia
Date: June 12, 2007
Re: Ethiopian millennium
Tegbar League-Ethiopia is calling on all foreign companies that are operating in Ethiopia to cease their operations in the country from August 20 until September 12, 2007, as preparation are underway for nationwide protests to demand the release of opposition leaders, journalists and all other political prisoners.
As you know well, the jailed opposition leaders are elected by the people of Ethiopia in a landslide victory in May 2005.
Following its defeat at the ballot box, the losing party, the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), carried out a massive crackdown in order to rule by force, disregarding the will of the people.
All major international organizations, the European Parliament, and the U.S. Congress have condemned the TPLF atrocities.
The opposition leaders made repeated calls for dialogue and all-inclusive talks to resolve the crisis peacefully. But the TPLF leaders refused, and instead threw all the opposition leaders, and tens of thousands of peaceful protesters in concentration camp-like jails.
After two years of appeals and calls for dialogue, we have ran out of options. We will not allow our elected leaders to languish and die in jail.
We therefore have decided to use the upcoming Ethiopian millennium to launch massive nationwide peaceful civil disobedience campaigns.
We will take extreme care to protect foreign nationals and companies. But knowing the past deeds of the TPLF regime, we are worried that they will attack foreigners and civilians and blame it on the opposition.
So we believe that it is a wise thing for us to issue this advisory in advance. The best thing for every foreign national to do is to stay away from the country during the days leading up to September 11, 2007.
Press Statement
The Coalition for Unity & Democracy (Kinijit)
June 12, 2007
June 11, 2007 once again marks another episode, in a series of excessive lawlessness and brutality that had been the order of the day in Ethiopia, ever since the domination of the nation by the illegitimate regime of Meles Zenawi.
It is on this day that the judiciary, known for being infested by the puppets of the brutal regime, handed down its guilty verdict on the democratically elected and popularly cherished heroes of the nation. These heroes of the Ethiopian democratic movement have genuinely and tirelessly charted a course that would have made repression and lawlessness on the one hand, disease, hunger, and poverty on the other, a thing of the past in our beloved Motherland.
The infamous verdict is intended to dehumanize the Ethiopian people, and crush the spirit of our heroes by ultimately sentencing them to life imprisonment or death. It is also designed to deal a crushing defeat to the democratic aspiration of the Ethiopian people and by extension respect for human rights and the rule of law.
A glimpse at today’s court drama clearly manifests that there were too many flaws in the handing down of the verdict which, as a matter of fact, has always been part and parcel of the administration of justice of the regime in general. Obviously, the ‘defendants’ had been deliberately denied access to relevant pieces of evidence and information to adequately pursue their defense. Further more, on the pretext of a ten minutes recess, which apparently lasted two hours, it is evident that the so called judges were actually receiving their final instructions by top officials of the executive branch, which is contrary to all norms of the practice of legal principles.
Today’s ill advised verdict is unprecedented in its cruelty in the long history of our nation, because it is a direct affront to the patriotism, dignity, freedom and identity of the Ethiopian people. It is a slick shot targeted against the Ethiopian people for the sole purpose of humiliating and suppressing our spirit of freedom which we have long espoused. Hence, this verdict has to be vehemently condemned by Ethiopians at home and abroad, and by all peace loving people of the world.
It is crystal clear that the days of the brutal regime of Meles Zenawi and his hunch men are numbered. The frustration and irresponsible acts of the court is a demonstration of their desperation. We, Ethiopians, are now, more than ever, united with the common purpose to say enough is enough. For the well being of our age old pride, the survival of our beloved nation, and for the good of the international community, the regime of Meles Zenawi has to be reminded, in no uncertain terms, that he can not keep on plundering the resources of the country and hoodwinking the international community with his duplicitous politics.
Finally, we, members and supporters of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party /CUDP/ would like to emphasize to the international community that the vision and spirit that has sustained and energized our heroic leaders would also further ignite our patriotism. Their moral strength, while they languish in the treacherous acts of brutality would only fuel our determination and sacrifices; so that we can move forward with renewed vigor to fulfill the historic tasks that the struggle for democracy requires.
A human rights group says it’s deeply concerned about the nearly 40 people convicted in Ethiopia Monday on charges stemming from political violence two years ago. Among those convicted were four editors and three publishers of newspapers that have since closed down.
In 2005, protests followed parliamentary elections, which critics say were rigged. Nearly 200 people died in the violence.
Tumusiime Kabwende Deo is a spokesman for the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Network. From Kampala, Uganda, he spoke to VOA English to Africa Service reporter Joe De Capua about the convictions.
“Our reaction is actually that the government of Ethiopia is completely wrong in acting that way. And our major concern is about the human rights defenders, whom our organization actually works to protect. We think the government is not treating them fairly. And according to information we have received from some of our contacts it appears that the government of Ethiopia ought to take full responsibility of the violence that occurred in 2005, leading to the arrests of the persons we have mentioned,” he says.The Ethiopian government has denied the convictions are an attempt to stifle political dissent. Deo says, “I would not comment on the political side. Our interest for the organization rotates around human rights defenders and the journalists.” Asked whether the political and human rights situations are intertwined, Deo says, “They might be intertwined, but then it’s very hard to gauge at what extent the government action is in the interest of national security. This is a kind of scenario that is being used by various governments in Africa just to crackdown on innocent human rights defenders. I mean what yardstick do you use to gauge that such and such an action is in the interest of national security or not.”
Deo says his sources tell him that those convicted could receive long prison sentences and in some cases maybe even the death penalty.
A federal high court verdict finding four journalists and three press groups guilty yesterday of trying to “overthrow constitutional rule” was condemned today by Reporters Without Borders as a serious retrograde development. Two of the four journalists face a possible death sentence or life imprisonment. They are part of a group of 38 opposition members who were convicted yesterday. Most had been in prison ever since a wave of arrests in November 2005.
The press freedom organisation also condemns the re-arrest of one of the four, Dawit Fassil, the deputy editor of the now-defunct weekly Satenaw, who had been released on bail in April after being held for 17 months.
“Isn’t the Ethiopian government tired of harassing the opposition and press?” Reporters Without Borders asked. “More than 18 months after the November 2005 round-ups, it continues to claim to be dispensing justice, when in fact it has become a caricature of revanchism and dysfunctional democracy. This is disappointing, and very disturbing for those who saw the acquittals in April as a sign that the government was ready to compromise.”
The organisation added: “The United States, which has a privileged relationship with Ethiopia, must make Prime Minister Meles Zenawi understand that these interminable proceedings have gone on long enough. This affair is becoming more and more dangerous for the country’s stability. It is time to find an honourable solution.”
The refusal of the four journalists and 34 other defendants – all members of the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) – to present a defence was interpreted by the high court as a confession of guilt.
Among the various verdicts handed down yesterday, the court found Abay editor Mesfin Tesfaye, Ethiop editor Andualem Ayele and Asqual editor Wonakseged Zeleke guilty of “conspiring to overthrow constitutional rule” and “inciting revolt.” Mesfin and Andualem face the possibility of the death penalty or life imprisonment. Wonakseged could get 10 years.
The newly rearrested Dawit faces a possible three-year sentence for publishing inaccurate information. Sentences are due to be announced on 8 July. The three press groups that were convicted – Serkalem, Sisay and Fassil – face large fines or court-ordered dissolution.
Two other journalists – Addis Zena editor Wosonseged Gebrekidan and Hadar editor Dawit Kebede – did agree to present a defence. Hearings for this purpose are due to begin on 18 June.
An Ethiopian judge adjourned Tuesday a trial launched by prosecutors seeking a death sentence for Mengistu Haile Marian, an exiled former dictator already sentenced to life in prison.
Judge Desta Gebru adjourned the trial till July 3 after defence lawyers filed their own appeal calling for Mengistu’s life sentence to be lifted and lesser terms for the ex-dictator’s aides.
Hearings for the prosecutors’ appeal, filed last week, were scheduled to begin Tuesday but have been adjourned until next month so both appeals can be considered at once, the judge said.
“We appeal not just against the prosecutor’s appeal, but also against the life-imprisonment sentence handed out earlier. We ask the court to review both cases at the same time,” said Girmasellasie Araya, a defence lawyer.
An Ethiopian court sentenced the former dictator in absentia last January to life in prison for genocide and other crimes. Mengistu has lived in exile in Zimbabwe since being overthrown in 1991.
The prosecution had called for Mengistu to be executed after he was convicted at the end of the marathon 12-year trial that ended on December 12.
But Justice Nur Mohammed said at the time that the court believed other punishments were sufficient.
The sentence followed the Ethiopian Federal High Court’s conviction of Mengistu and 11 of his top aides on 211 counts of genocide, homicide, illegal imprisonment and illegal property seizure.
The trial related to atrocities committed during the 1977-78 “Red Terror” period when tens of thousands of people were killed or disappeared in Mengistu’s bid to turn Ethiopia into a Soviet-style workers’ state.
Zimbabwe has always ruled out the possibility of extraditing the 69-year-old former Ethiopian leader, who ruled until 1991.
