ETHIOPIAN HUMAN RIGHTS
COUNCIL
Tel. 251-1 514489 / 517704,
TeleFax: 251-1 514539,
E-mail: [email protected], POBox 2432, Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA
EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLING
Special Report No. 14
May 13, 1997
Ato Assefa Maru was killed on May
8, 1997 at 8:20 a.m. while he was walking from his home in Woreda
12 Kebele 06 to his office. He was killed in Woreda 11 Kebele 10,
about a kilo meter away from his home near the office of the
former NGO, DAY (now Good Shepherd). Ato Assefa was taking an
uphill road that passes along the stone fence of this office. We
went to the place and saw that the spot where he was killed has
no access for escape.
According to eye witness reports
received by EHRCO, Ato Assefa had almost reached the end of the
uphill road when a Toyota pick-up driving towards him stopped in
front of him, blocking his way. Apart from the driver and the
policeman holding a walkie talkie, the vehicle carried six other
policemen armed with kalashnikoves and hand grenades round their
waist. Ato Assefa tried to pass the pick-up by turning towards
the stone fence. At this point an Opel police automobile with a
siren which was following Ato Assefa from a close range drove
nearer and a policeman at the back seat fired a volley of shots
at him with an automatic gun. Ato Assefa died instantly.
Neither the policemen on the
pick-up nor those in the Opel automobile ordered Ato Assefa to
stop. The police did not fire warning shots into the air nor did
they aim their shots towards the victim’s legs as is normally
done to constrain someone trying to escape from arrest, but
deliberately aimed at his head and chest and shot to kill him
right away. When Ato Assefa fell dead, the Opel automobile drove
straight ahead without stopping. Then six policemen on the
pick-up got off their vehicle and blocked the road in both
directions. Some of them searched Ato Assefa’s pockets and also
took away his briefcase. Soon a police Land Rover brought four
more policemen, dropped them and drove back.
A while later a police vehicle
used for carrying corpses came and picked up the victim’s body
and drove off via the backstreet of Entoto Comprehensive
Secondary School towards the direction of Sidist Kilo. The 10
policemen too climbed their Toyota and followed the car carrying
the corpse. Twenty-five minutes after Ato Assefa was killed (at
2:45 a.m.) policemen carrying walkie talkies and armed with
automatic guns and hand grenades arrived at Ato Assefa Maru’s
house. After explaining that they had a warrant of search they
searched the deceased’s house. However, they did not find any
fire arms in his house other than tape cassettes, the reports of
EHRCO and ETA’s papers which they took away. Twelve other
policemen who took control of ETA’s office at the time that the
other policemen arrived at Ato Assefa’s house did not have a
search warrant.
However, this did not prevent them
from detaining on the premise 34 persons, including ETA’s leaders
and staff as well as others who had gone there for private
business. It was at 6:30 p.m. that the police allowed them to
leave after searching their bodies. The police stood guard at the
office the whole night. The next day ETA leaders and staff were
denied access to their office. At 5:30 a.m., policemen carrying a
search warrant issued on May 9, 1997 came and broke the locks of
four of the offices. They searched the offices of Dr. Taye Wolde
Semayat (ETA’s President), Ato Gemoraw Kassa (ETA’s General
Secretary), and ETA Members’ Affairs and Public Relations Offices
until 4:30 p.m. and took away ETA’s various documents. The
policemen guarding the head office left the premise at 6:00 p.m.
on the same day.
At 10:00 a.m. on the day Ato
Assefa was killed, an unidentified man phoned EHRCO’s office and
said: “Do you know Ato Assefa Maru? Is he your member? And
after receiving a “yes” reply, he said that Ato Assefa
had died in a car accident and that we could collect his body
from Menelik II Hospital. When asked where and when he died, the
caller declined to say so, but he added: “Take the body and
bury it if you want to.” EHRCO’s staff soon went to the
Hospital and saw that Ato Assefa was shot on the head and chest
and that the whole of his face and the front left side of his
shirt were covered with blood.
At the lunch time news, the
government radio reported: The Federal Police Investigation
Coordination Department has announced that the members of the
anti-peace group which called itself Ethiopian Unity Patriots
Front have been taken into custody and that Ato Assefa Maru, who
was said to have replaced the Front’s leader and been
coordinating its activities, has been shot dead while trying to
escape.
The official Amharic daily, Addis
Zemen (56th year, no. 201) reported the following in its May 9,
1997 issue: The Federal Police Investigation Coordination
Department announced yesterday that the members of the anti-peace
group which called itself Ethiopian Unity Patriots Front had been
taken into custody and that Ato Assefa Maru, who was said to have
replaced the Front’s leader and been coordinating its activities,
was shot dead while trying to escape. Earlier, the leaders of the
so-called Ethiopian Unity Patriots Front, which had been engaged
in anti-people activities, were arrested and their case is
pending before the court. Assefa Maru, who had replaced the
group’s leader Dr. Taye Wolde Semayat, was discovered while
preparing to launch another terrorist act together with his
accomplices and was killed while trying to escape from arrest.
The Federal Police Investigation Department informed Ethiopian
News Service that the police arrested yesterday morning the other
members who were in the process of committing terrorist acts in
Addis Ababa. The Department disclosed that those arrested with
the killed man were Lieutenant Tegenu Jinka, Private Bogale
Tessema, Private Tesfaye Getachew, who were all members of the
former regime’s army, as well as Solomon Tekle Wold, Yibeltal
Simegne, and Mengistu Kibret.
According to testimonies received
by EHRCO, the six other people whom the police claimed to have
rounded up together with Ato Assefa are reported to be residents
of Woreda 11 Kebele 22 and had been detained three weeks ago. Ato
Assefa was a resident of Woreda 12 Kebele 06 and his family say
that the deceased had no relationship with these six persons.
Ato Assefa was a member of the
Executive Committee of ETA. He had also been a member of EHRCO
since 1992. On October 6, 1996 he was elected to serve as a
member of the Executive Committee of EHRCO. According to EHRCO’s
Articles of Association, although a member of a political
organization can be admitted to EHRCO, he cannot, however, be
admitted if he is a member of a political organization that has a
military wing and pursues its objectives through violence. It is
only a non-member of a political organization or a member of a
political organization that is engaged in a peaceful political
struggle that can be admitted to EHRCO. However, although a
member of a political organization that pursues a peaceful
political struggle can be a member of EHRCO, no one who is a
member of a political organization can be elected to serve on the
Executive Committee of EHRCO. EHRCO’s rules mandatorily require
that no member of a political organization can hold the post of
EHRCO’s Executives Committee. When Ato Assefa Maru applied to be
a member of EHRCO he had stated in writing that he was not a
member of any political organization. At the time of his election
to the Executive Committee, Ato Assefa had also told EHRCO’s
General Assembly that he was not a member of any political
organization. Therefore, EHRCO could not accept the police claim
that he was killed because he was found while acting as a leader
of the Ethiopian Unity Patriots Front.
Ato Assefa was 37 years old,
married and a father of two children. His son is only one year
and nine months old while his daughter is just two months old.
Ato Assefa was a responsible person who believed in dialogue and
peaceful struggle. One cannot believe that a man such as Ato
Assefa with heavy family responsibility will join an illegal
clandestine organization and put his family’s well being at risk.
Ato Assefa Maru was the kind of
person who would obey even a summon by telephone and appear
before the law. The Federal Police could have also arrested Ato
Assefa either at his home or at his office if they intend to
arrest him, or they could have fired at his leg to restrain his
movement if at all there was an attempt to escape. He should not
have been assassinated in such a carefully organized and
coordinated manner. He ought to have been brought before a court
of law even if he were found to be a member of an illegal and
violent organization.
Dr. Taye Wolde Semayat was charged
for allegedly being the leader of an illegal organization called
Ethiopian National Patriots Front (ENPF). On the other hand, the
organization which Ato Assefa Maru was accused of leading by
replacing Dr. Taye Wolde Semayat is reportedly called Ethiopian
Unity Patriots Front (EUPF). The two organizations have different
names.
What this indicates is the haste
of the police to cover up the murder by linking Ato Assefa with
the organization which Dr. Taye was accused of leading. Ato
Assefa was killed while he was walking to his office and not, as
was claimed by the Federal Police, because he tried to escape
when he was discovered together with his accomplices while
preparing for another act of terrorism. At the time that Ato
Assefa was shot dead, no fire arm was found in his possession;
the police only found his briefcase, identity paper and some
money in his pockets. Furthermore, there was nobody with him at
the time of the incident who had surrendered himself to the
police.
EHRCO calls upon the Ethiopian
government to investigate the killing of Ato Assefa and to bring
to court the killer(s). It is a blatant violation of human rights
to organize a death squad and have people shot dead in broad
daylight in an open street. Hence EHRCO strongly urges the
government to take appropriate steps to restrain the security
forces from engaging in such acts. The government is also duty
bound to ensure the protection of the rights enshrined in Article
15 of FDRE Constitution and Article 6(1) of the International
Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (which has been ratified
by the government) and which provide that every human being has
the inherent right to life; no one shall be arbitrarily deprived
of his life. EHRCO urges all those organizations and individuals
within and outside Ethiopia who stand for the protection of human
rights to condemn the illegal killing of Ato Assefa Maru and to
ask the Ethiopian government to bring the killer(s) to justice.
CC:
Council of People’s
Representatives
P. O. Box 80001, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
Tel: (251-1) 55 30 00
His Excellency Dr. Negasso Gidada
President of the FDRE
P. O. Box 1031, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
Fax: (251-1) 55 20 30
His Excellency Ato Meles Zenawi
Prime Minister of the FDRE
P. O. Box 1031, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
Fax: (251-1) 55 20 30
His Excellency Ato Mahteme Solomon
Minister of Justice
P. O. Box 1370, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
Fax: (251-1) 55 07 22
His Excellency Ato Kemal Bedri
President of the Supreme Court
P. O. Box 6166, Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia
Fax: (251-1) 55 07 28