Prosecution of Core Crimes in Ethiopia: Domestic Practice vis-à-vis International Standards

Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
Tables
Abbreviations
Chapter 1 Introduction
	1.1 Ethiopia’s Involvement with International Crimes: A Prelude
	1.2 Statement of the Problem
	1.3 Central Questions of the Book
	1.4 Review of the Literature
	1.5 Methodology
	1.6 Scope of the Book
	1.7 Structure of the Book
Part 1 The Setting in Motion of Prosecutions of Core Crimes in Ethiopia
	Chapter 2 The Decision to Prosecute Core Crimes: Contexts and Contents
		2.1 Introduction
		2.2 Amnestying or Prosecuting the Dergue: The Choice of the tge
			2.2.1 The London Conference: An Attempt to Negotiate Amnesty
			2.2.2 The Addis Ababa Conference and the Transitional Charter: Nation’s Wounds Heal through a ‘Just-Peace’
			2.2.3 The Decision to Prosecute the Dergue: The Establishment of the spo
		2.3 The Scope of the Decision to Prosecute: ‘Heinous and Horrendous’ Criminal Acts
			2.3.1 ‘Heinous and Horrendous’ Criminal Acts: International or Domestic Crimes?
			2.3.2 The Reason behind the ‘Heinous and Horrendous’ Formulation: The Absence of a Commission of Inquiry
			2.3.3 The spo’s Interpretation of the ‘Heinous and Horrendous’ Formulation: International and Domestic Crimes
		2.4 The Decision to Prosecute: Removing Latent Impediments
			2.4.1 Statutory Limitations
			2.4.2 Immunity from Prosecution
				2.4.2.1 A Survey of Ethiopian Laws on Immunity
				2.4.2.2 The Practice: Immunity of Heads of State and the Dergue Trials
		2.5 Conclusion
	Chapter 3 The Decisions to Prosecute: Possible Motivations
		3.1 Introduction
		3.2 The tge’s Conviction to Uphold a Duty to Prosecute
			3.2.1 The tge’s International Obligation to Prosecute the spo’s Core Crimes
				3.2.1.1 Genocide
				3.2.1.2 War Crimes
			3.2.2 The tge’s National Obligation to Prosecute the spo Crimes
		3.3 The Absence of Actual or Perceived Adversary
		3.4 Perpetrators’ Lack of Remorse and Apology
		3.5 The tge’s Intention to Use Prosecution for Political Legitimacy
		3.6 Post-tge Decisions to Prosecute Core Crimes: The Persistence of Political Considerations
			3.6.1 The Anuak-Nuwer, the cud, and the Oromo-Gumuz Trials: The Application of the Obligation to Prosecute Genocide
			3.6.2 Beyond the Anuak-Nuwer, the cud, and the Oromo-Gumuz Trials: Mapping Ethiopia’s Trend in Prosecuting Core Crimes
		3.7 Conclusion
	Chapter 4 The Decisions to Prosecute: Who Should Be Brought to Justice?
		4.1 Introduction
		4.2 Delineating Prosecutorial Scope: The Notion of Unjustified Selectivity
			4.2.1 The Dergue Trials: The Victors v. The Vanquished
				4.2.1.1 The spo’s Personal Jurisdiction: ‘The Others Were Left Untouched’
				4.2.1.2 The Victor’s Justice Accusation
					4.2.1.2.1 The Question of Multiple Actors
					4.2.1.2.1.1 Allegations Related to the Red-Terror
					4.2.1.2.1.2 Allegations Related to Armed Conflicts
				4.2.1.3 The spo’s Final Defense to the Victor’s Justice Accusation
				4.2.1.4 The Issue of a Separate Response: The rppo and the Others
			4.2.2 The cud Trials: The Perpetrators v. the Victims
		4.3 The Issue of Fugitive Offenders: Trial in Absentia / Trial by Default
			4.3.1 Eligible Offenses
			4.3.2 A Last Resort Proceeding: To Bring or To Notify
				4.3.2.1 The Obligation to Search for the Accused: Requesting Extradition
				4.3.2.2 The Obligation to Notify the Accused
			4.3.3 The Availability of a Remedy: Retrial
		4.4 Conclusion
Part 2 Ethiopian Core Crimes Trials: Applicable Laws, Crimes, and Punishment
	Chapter 5 The Crime of Genocide in Ethiopian Law
		5.1 Introduction
		5.2 The Early Ethiopian Ratification of the Genocide Convention
		5.3 Incorporating the Crime of Genocide into Ethiopian Law
			5.3.1 Naming Genocide in Amharic: ዘርን ማጥፋት
			5.3.2 Genocide as ‘Crimes against Humanity’
			5.3.3 Genocide as a Crime of ዕቅድ (Dessein)
		5.4 Evolution of the Ethiopian Law on Genocide
			5.4.1 The Penal Code of 1957
			5.4.2 The pdre Draft Criminal Code: An Abortive Attempt to Rectify Discrepancies
			5.4.3 The fdre Criminal Code: Broadening the Discrepancies?
		5.5 The Status of the Genocide Convention in the Ethiopian Legal System
			5.5.1 The Permissibility of Expansive National Laws
			5.5.2 The Impermissibility of Conflicting National Laws
		5.6 Conclusion: The Duality of Laws Applicable to the Crime of Genocide in Ethiopia
	Chapter 6 The Crime of Genocide in Ethiopian Trials: Elements of the Crime
		6.1 Introduction
		6.2 Material Element: Protected Groups
			6.2.1 Group / ቡድን
			6.2.2 The Expansion of the List of Protected Groups
			6.2.3 The Protected Groups in Practice
				6.2.3.1 Political Groups
				6.2.3.2 Ethnic Groups
		6.3 Actus Reus of Genocide: Underlying Offenses
			6.3.1 Killing Members of the Group
			6.3.2 Bodily Injury or Causing Harm in Any Way Whatsoever to the External and Internal Health of a Member of the Group
				6.3.2.1 Mental Harm
				6.3.2.2 Bodily Harm
			6.3.3 Imposing Measures to Prevent Propagation or Continued Survival of Members of the Group or their Progeny
			6.3.4 Compulsory Movement or Dispersion of Peoples or Children
			6.3.5 Placing Members of the Group under Living Conditions Calculated to Result in Their Death
			6.3.6 Enforced Disappearance
		6.4 Mental Element of Genocide
			6.4.1 Intent/Plan: ‘ዕቅድ’ in the Dergue and the Anuak-Nuwer Trials
				6.4.1.1 Establishing ዕቅድ in the Dergue Trials: Factual Issues
					6.4.1.1.1 Orders, Announcements, and Campaigns of Violence
					6.4.1.1.2 The Establishment of Institutions of Violence
					6.4.1.1.3 Intensifying and Coordinating Institutions and Violence
					6.4.1.1.4 The Direct Involvement of Higher Officials in Perpetration of Violence
				6.4.1.2 The Courts’ Failure to Note and Clarify the Ambiguity of ዕቅድ
			6.4.2 Intent/Plan: ‘አሳብ’ in the cud and the Oromo-Gumuz Trials
			6.4.3 To Destroy /ለማጥፋት
			6.4.4 In Whole or in Part
			6.4.5 As Such /ን?
		6.5 Conclusion: Undiscussed Genocides
	Chapter 7 War Crimes in Ethiopia: Law and Practice
		7.1 Introduction
		7.2 Early Efforts to Punish War Crimes in Ethiopia: The unwcc and the ewcc
		7.3 War Crimes Law in Ethiopia and the Serious Violations of ihl Yardstick
			7.3.1 Do the War Crimes Provisions in Ethiopia Satisfy the Violation of a Rule of ihl Requirement?
			7.3.2 The Serious Breaches of ihl Requirement in Ethiopian War Crimes Provisions
		7.4 Neutrality of the Ethiopian War Crimes Provisions: The Abolition of the Distinction between Armed Conflicts
		7.5 The Scope of War Crimes in Ethiopian Law: Interpretative and Direct Application of ihl
			7.5.1 ihl Treaties as the Interpretative Tool of Ethiopian War Crimes Provisions
			7.5.2 Direct Application of ihl Treaties and the Legality Principle in Ethiopian Law
				7.5.2.1 Nullum Crimen Sine Lege: International Treaties as Sources of War Crimes in Ethiopia
				7.5.2.2 Nulla Poena Sine Lege: Trying War Crimes Defined in International Treaties
			7.5.3 Customary International Law and War Crimes in Ethiopia: The Regressive Aspect
		7.6 Individual Acts of War Crimes: Ethiopian Law vis-à-vis the icc Statute
		7.7 War Crimes in Ethiopian Practice: The Legesse Asfaw et al. Case
			7.7.1 The Individual Acts of War Crimes Prosecuted in Legesse Asfaw et al.
				7.7.1.1 Killing a Civilian
				7.7.1.2 Bodily Injury
				7.7.1.3 Starvation of Civilians as a Method of Warfare
			7.7.2 Legesse Asfaw et al.: Conviction without Discussing the Nexus Element
		7.8 The Absence of More War Crimes Trials: Why Only Legesse Asfaw Et al.?
		7.9 Conclusion
	Chapter 8 Punishment and Sentencing of Core Crimes in Ethiopia
		8.1 Introduction
		8.2 Applicable Penalties for Core Crimes under Ethiopian Law: Principal and Secondary
			8.2.1 Principal Penalties
				8.2.1.1 Pecuniary Penalties: Confiscation of Property and Fines
				8.2.1.2 Penalties Entailing Loss of Liberty and Life: From Incarceration to Punishment by Death
					8.2.1.2.1 Rigorous Imprisonment for Five to Twenty-Five Years
					8.2.1.2.2 Life Imprisonment: With a Possibility of Early Release
					8.2.1.2.3 The Death Penalty: Its Exceptionality and the Rarity of Executions
			8.2.2 Secondary Penalties
		8.3 Changes in Applicable Penalties and the Principle of Lex Mitior
		8.4 Sentencing Rationales
		8.5 Factors in Sentence Determination: Aggravation and Mitigation
			8.5.1 Gravity of the Crime and the Circumstances of Its Commission: The Initial Penalty
			8.5.2 The Degree of Individual Guilt: Reviewing the Initial Penalty through Separate Treatment of Mitigating and Aggravating Factors
				8.5.2.1 Special Mitigating Factors
				8.5.2.2 General Mitigating Factors
					8.5.2.2.1 Statutory Mitigating Factors
					8.5.2.2.2 Judicial Mitigating Factors: An Unfettered Judicial Discretion in Ethiopian Law and in icl
				8.5.2.3 Special Aggravating Factors
				8.5.2.4 General Aggravating Factors
					8.5.2.4.1 Statutory Aggravating Factors
					8.5.2.4.2 Judicial Aggravating Factors
		8.6 Multiplicity of Convicts and the Problem of Individualization of Punishment
		8.7 Conclusion
	Chapter 9 Conclusion: Trying Core Crimes with Political Ambition and Judicial Ineptness
		9.1 Findings in Part 1 Prosecuting Core Crimes through Political Emphasis and Indifference
			9.1.1 Politically Motivated Foundations of the Ethiopian Core Crimes Trials
			9.1.2 Unremoved Impediments: Our Judges, Our Laws
			9.1.3 The Hidden Trials: Governmental Indifference to the Prosecution of Core Crimes
		9.2 Findings in Part 2 Duality of the Applicable Law and Singularity of the Jurisprudence
			9.2.1 Ethiopian Core Crimes Trials and Dualism of the Applicable Law
			9.2.2 The Singularity of the Ethiopian Core Crimes Jurisprudence: The Undiscussed Crimes
			9.2.3 Punishing Core Crimes as Ordinary Crimes: Ineffectiveness in Law and Practice
		9.3 Final Remarks: Legacy of Trials That Did Not Mirror icl Standards
List of Cases
	National Jurisdictions
	Other National Jurisdictions
	International Criminal Courts and Tribunals
	Other International and Regional Courts and Bodies
List of Laws
	Ethiopian Laws
	Other National Jursidictions
	Laws of International Criminal Courts and Tribunals
	International Treaties, Agreements, and Declarations
Bibliography
	Articles and Book Chapters
	Books and Dissertations
	Other Documents
	General Comments, Reports, and Resolutions
	Electronic Sources
Index