Paris-Geneva, April 19, 2007. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), in the framework of their joint programme, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, have been informed of a recent update in the trial of human rights defenders, opposition leaders, and journalists that has been pending December 2005, and which was subsequent to massive protests and violent crackdowns in the aftermath of the parliamentary elections in May 2005[1].
The federal prosecution completed presenting its evidence on November 29, 2006 and the case was adjourned to February 10, 2007 for ruling. After some new adjournments, the court read out its ruling on the six working days between March 30 and April 9, 2007. According to the ruling, the prosecution was unable to prove its charge on counts of “attempted genocide” and “high treason”, and these two charges were dropped. Moreover, some 25 of the defendants (of which 8 are journalists), including Mr. Kassahun Kebede, Director of the Addis Ababa branch of the Ethiopian Teachers’ Association (ETA), were acquitted and released. Charges against some defendants who have been tried in absentia have also been either suspended or dropped.
However, the court said that the prosecution has proven its case against leaders of the main opposition party and most of the members and supporters, especially on the first count, i.e. “crime of outrage against the constitutional order”. So far, except Mr. Daniel Bekele, Head of Policy Research and Advocacy Department of Action Aid Ethiopia, and Mr. Netsanet Desmissie, founder of the Organisation for Social Justice in Ethiopia (OSJE), all the accused persons have refused to defend themselves, claiming that the charges are politically motivated and that they have no faith in the independence of the court. The case has been adjourned to April 30, 2007.
The Observatory recalls that it sent two international missions of judicial observation to Ethiopia in order to observe this trial in February and October 2006[2]. In view of its findings, the Observatory considered the charges to be arbitrary and disproportionate to the nature of the events that occurred in the aftermath of the May 2005 elections. The Observatory also expressed its deepest concern about the fairness of this trial, as it believed it to be a way to silence any political criticism of the current regime.
The Observatory also condemns the continuing repression of human rights defenders and expresses its particular concern about the situation of members of the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO). Indeed, since the second crackdown on mass protests, several of EHRCO’s veteran staff have been forced into exile for fear of their lives. Besides, several EHRCO members have been arrested arbitrarily and held in detention for various periods of time in 2006 (See Observatory Annual Report 2006).
Therefore, the Observatory reiterates its recommendations to the Ethiopian authorities urging them to:
- Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of human rights defenders;
- Ensure that people subjected to arbitrary arrests, arbitrary charges or those without charges or conviction against them, including Mr. Daniel Bekele, and Mr. Netsanet Desmissie, be immediately released;
- End all forms of harassment and ill-treatment of human rights defenders in Ethiopia, and guarantee in all circumstances that human rights defenders and organisations are able to carry out their work without any hindrance;
- Conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially its article 1, which states that “everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to promote and to strive for the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels” and article 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration”;
- Conform with the recommendations, conclusions and observations made by Special Procedures of the United Nations concerning Ethiopia, as well as with the resolution adopted by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights at its 38th Session in Banjul, in December 2005, and endorsed by African Heads of States and Governments at the African Union Summit held in the Gambia in July 2006;
- More generally, ensure in all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms throughout the country in accordance with international human rights instruments ratified by Ethiopia.
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[1] 131 people (including legal persons), presumed to be linked with these events, had been charged with crimes including “conspiracy”, “outrage against the Constitution”, “inciting, organising and leading armed rebellion”, “crime against the territorial integrity of the country”, “high treason” and “genocide”, all these charges being liable to sentences ranging from 25 years’ imprisonment to death penalty, though not all were charged on all counts. Later on, the Federal Prosecution withdrew its charge of “crime against the territorial integrity of the country”, and the charge of “genocide” was reframed as “attempted genocide”.
Three human rights defenders were part of the co-accused, namely Mr. Kassahun Kebede, Director of the Addis Ababa branch of the Ethiopian Teachers’ Association (ETA), Mr. Daniel Bekele, Head of Policy Research and Advocacy Department of Action Aid Ethiopia, and Mr. Netsanet Desmissie, founder of the Organisation for Social Justice in Ethiopia (OSJE), who were all charged with “crime of outrage against the Constitutional order”.
[2] See the mission report that was released on December 22, 2006, at: www.fidh.org/IMG/pdf/et221206a.pdf or www.omct.org/pdf/Observatory/2006/report/ethiopia_obs463-2_1106_eng.pdf
Posted by marga at April 20, 2007 1:22 PM | TrackBackTO FIDH
CONCERNING THE EVENTS IN ESTONIA IN APRIL 26, 2007.
THE ONLY REASON OF THE REPEATED ACCUSATIONS OF HUMAN RIGHT VIOLATIONS AGAINST IN ESTONIA, IS THE NEED TO SUBSTANTIATE OVERTHROWING THE ESTONIAN GOVERNMENT BY RUSSIA. PLEASE AT LEAST TRY TO UNDERSTAND ME RIGHTLY, THIS IS THE REASON WHY THE COMPLAINTS ARE SO PERSISTENT. AND NOW RUSSIA TRIED TO TOPPLE THE GOVERNMENT OF ESTONIA, BY THE STATEMENT OF ITS OFFICIAL STATE DELEGATION, AND BY A NUMBER OF EVIDENTS, LIKE THE OFFICIALS OF THE RUSSIAN EMBASSY CONTACTING A PERSON WHO THEN AGITATATED TO CREATE GROUPS WHO WOULD AGITATE AMONG SOLDIERS THAT THEY SHOULD NOT TAKE ACTION WHEN THE CONFLICT MAY HAPPEN. THESE MAY BEEN THE REASONS WHY THE GOVERNMENT DECIDED TO RELOCATE THE MONUMENT, TO MAKE AN UNEXPECTED MOVE BEFORE RUSSIA CAN FULFIL ITS PLAN OF FORCEFUL OVERTHROWING OF THE ESTONIAN GOVERNMENT. IT WAS AN EMERGENCY FOR ESTONIA, WITH POLICE ACTING AGAINST MUCH GREATER NUMBER OF PEOPLE WITHOUT ADEQUATE PROTECTION, EVEN WITHOUT HELMETS, IN THE CONDITIONS THAT ANY TIME SOMEONE MAY COME BEHIND ANY CORNER, DOORS OR BROKEN WINDOWS. THERE IS NO TIME TO ACT AS GENTLY AS POSSIBLE, THEY HAD TO SUBDUE ANY SUBJECT AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. THERE WERE PROFESSIONAL MURDERERS USING KNIVES.
AND IT IS THIS DIFFICULT MOMENT FOR ESTONIA, AND ETHNIC ESTONIANS, AGAINST WHO ALL THIS VIOLENCE AND THESE PLANS WERE DIRECTED, FINALLY FOR ONLY NATIONAL REASONS, WHEN YOU COME TO ACCUSE ESTONIA, MAKING WITH THAT THE SITUATION FOR ESTONIA EVEN WORSE, AND HELPING THE TYRANTS WHO WANT TO VIOLENTLY TAKE POWER IN ESTONIA, AGAINST THE WILL OF ETHNIC ESTONIANS, AND MOST PEOPLE IN ESTONIA. YOU DO EVERYTHING YOU CAN AGAINST HUMAN RIGHTS OF ETHNIC ESTONIANS, THIS IS AN EXTREMELY BRUTE BEHAVIOUR, ESPECIALLY TO STILL CALL YOURSELF "HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATIONS".
IN ESTONIA, PROTECTING THE HUMAN RIGHTS HAS ONLY BEEN MEANT PROTECTING THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE ETHNIC RUSSIANS, NO ONE EVER DID ANYTHING TO PROTECT THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF ETHNIC ESTONIANS, *NO ONE* DEFENDS THEM, NOT MANY EVEN KNOWS THAT THEY EVEN EXIST, AS AN ETHNIC GROUP. THEY HAVE BEEN SUFFERED A LOT, BUT THEY HAVE EVEN NO HOPE, THAT ANYONE WOULD EVER PROTECT THEM, AND THEY ARE PEOPLE WITH PEACEFUL NATURE, AND SUFFER SILENTLY. ETHNIC ESTONIANS RIGHTFULLY DON'T TRUST YOUR "ORGANISATIONS" AND NEVER ASK HELP FROM INHUMAN PEOPLE LIKE YOU, WHO DON'T CONSIDER THEM EVEN HUMANS. AT THE VERY LEAST, *LEAVE US ALONE*.
I AM BTW, A SIMPLE ETHNIC ESTONIAN, LIVING MOST HUMBLE LIFE, NOT A POLICE, OR ASSOCIATED WITH ANY AUTHORITIES. AND I EVEN DON'T SUPPPORT THE EXISTING GOVERNMENT, BECAUSE OF THEIR RESTRICTION OF FREEDOM, BUT I SEE THAT THIS FIFH ATTACK WAS AGAINST ESTONIA AS A SOVEREIGN COUNTRY, AND ESPECIALLY AGAINST INNOCENT ETHNIC ESTONIANS, AND NOT AGAINST ITS AUTHORITIES.
Posted by: not human at May 10, 2007 2:27 AM