The crime of genocide was first enshrined under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of crime of Genocide. Before 1948, acts that constituted to genocide documented during WWII were never articulated as crimes of genocide in the International Military Tribunal and International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Instead, these conduct formed part of crimes against humanity and their prosecution was limited to that. However, after the adoption of the 1948 Genocide Convention, subsequent instruments such as the ICTR Statute, ICTY Statute and the Rome Statute in the 1990s specifically enshrined the crime of genocide independent and separate from crime against humanity. Ethiopia is not new to prosecuting and punishing international core crimes. In Ethiopia, the “Derg” era was characterized by the execution and disappearance of thousands of dissidents. This article critically analyses the sentencing judgment issued on 04 November 2002 by the Tigrian State Supreme Court in the case of Tekleberhan Negash and his co-accused who had been tried, among others, on charges of genocide crime. This case was only one of the numerous cases decided by Ethiopian Courts for genocide crime committed during the “Derg” regime. Thus, it is a doctrinal legal research by using Ethiopia’s and International Criminal Law, Decided Case, and conceptual approaches. Accordingly, it has analyzed this nationally prosecuted international core crimes cases in light of international criminal law standards with special reference to the law of genocide.
| Published in | International Journal of Law and Society (Volume 5, Issue 2) |
| DOI | 10.11648/j.ijls.20220502.12 |
| Page(s) | 153-159 |
| Creative Commons |
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited. |
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group |
Genocide, Criminal Law, Ethiopian Penal Code, Special Prosecutor Office
| [1] | Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide Adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 9 December 1948, Article 1 and 4. |
| [2] | The 1957 Ethiopian Penal Code, Article 281. |
| [3] | Proclamation Establishing the Office of the Special Prosecutor (herein after cited as the SPO), Proclamation 22/1992 (8 August 1992). |
| [4] | Special Prosecutor Office vs. Tekeleberhan Negash et al, file no 1/91, Tigrian Region Supreme Court. |
| [5] | Schabas. An Introduction to the International Criminal Court, 3rd edition, New York: NY, Cambridge University Press, 2007. |
| [6] | Schabas, William. Genocide in International Law: the Crime of Crimes, New York: NY, Cambridge University Press, 2000. |
| [7] | Leslie Alan Horvitz & Christopher Catherwood. Encyclopedia of War Crimes and Genocide, “Genocide”, New York: NY: Facts on file Inc, 2006. |
| [8] | Study on the question of the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide, U.N.Doc. E/CN. 4/Sub. 2/416, 4 July 1973. |
| [9] | Revised and updated report on the question of the prevention and punishment of the crime of genocide, U.N.Doc. E/CN. 4/Sub. 2/1985/6, 2 July 1985. |
| [10] | Robert C et al.. “An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure”, 1st Ed., Cambridge University Press, 2007a. |
| [11] | Robert Cryeret al. An Introduction to International Criminal Law and Procedure, Cambridge University Press, 2ndedition, 2010b. |
| [12] | Updated Statute of the ICTY, S/Res/827 (1993) of 25 May 1993, Article 4. |
| [13] | Statute of the ICTR, S/Res/955 (1994) of 8 November 1994, Article 2. |
| [14] | Rome Statute of the ICC, 1998, Article 6. |
| [15] | Dr. Misa Zgonec-R,.“International Criminal Law Manual, 2010. |
| [16] | Frew Kebede Tiba. The Mengistu Genocide Trial in Ethiopia, 5 Journal of International Criminal Justice, 2007. |
| [17] | Ayalew, A. G. Approaching Ethnic Cleansing Within the Criminal Law of Ethiopia. Beijing Law Review, 10, 869-881. doi: 10.4236/blr.2019.104047, 2019. |
| [18] | The Criminal Code of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Proclamation no. 414/2004, Article 269: (herein after cited as the FDRE Criminal Code). |
| [19] | Akayesu ICTR T. Ch. I 2.9.1998 para. 511-515. |
| [20] | The Criminal Procedure Code of Ethiopia, Proclamation No. 185/1961, Article 130: (herein after cited as the ECPC). |
| [21] | Special Prosecutor v. Col. Mengistu Hailemariam et al., Ruling on Preliminary Objections, 10 October 1996, File No. 1/87, Ethiopian Federal High Court. |
| [22] | The Court repeatedly said the victims were killed by the accused because of their membership to “hiwhat or woyane.” |
| [23] | Kayis hema ICTR T. Ch. II 21.5.1999 Para. 88. |
| [24] | Musema ICTR T. Ch. I 27.1.2000 Para. 164. |
| [25] | Kambanda ICTR T. Ch. I 4.9.1998 para. 16. |
| [26] | Prosecutor v Tadic (Appeals Chamber Judgment) ICTY-94-1-A (15 July 1999), Para. 220-227. |
| [27] | As per Article 14 (3) (d) of the ICCPR, a defendant have the right to be tried in his presence. |
| [28] | ICCPR, Article 14 (3) (c); African Charter on Human and Peoples Right, Article 7 (d) and FDRE Constitution, Article 20 (1). |
APA Style
Diriba Adugna Tulu. (2022). Prosecuting Crime of Genocide in Ethiopia: A Case Comment on SPO vs. Tekleberhan Negash et al. International Journal of Law and Society, 5(2), 153-159. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20220502.12
ACS Style
Diriba Adugna Tulu. Prosecuting Crime of Genocide in Ethiopia: A Case Comment on SPO vs. Tekleberhan Negash et al. Int. J. Law Soc. 2022, 5(2), 153-159. doi: 10.11648/j.ijls.20220502.12
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Download@article{10.11648/j.ijls.20220502.12,
author = {Diriba Adugna Tulu},
title = {Prosecuting Crime of Genocide in Ethiopia: A Case Comment on SPO vs. Tekleberhan Negash et al},
journal = {International Journal of Law and Society},
volume = {5},
number = {2},
pages = {153-159},
doi = {10.11648/j.ijls.20220502.12},
url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20220502.12},
eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijls.20220502.12},
abstract = {The crime of genocide was first enshrined under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of crime of Genocide. Before 1948, acts that constituted to genocide documented during WWII were never articulated as crimes of genocide in the International Military Tribunal and International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Instead, these conduct formed part of crimes against humanity and their prosecution was limited to that. However, after the adoption of the 1948 Genocide Convention, subsequent instruments such as the ICTR Statute, ICTY Statute and the Rome Statute in the 1990s specifically enshrined the crime of genocide independent and separate from crime against humanity. Ethiopia is not new to prosecuting and punishing international core crimes. In Ethiopia, the “Derg” era was characterized by the execution and disappearance of thousands of dissidents. This article critically analyses the sentencing judgment issued on 04 November 2002 by the Tigrian State Supreme Court in the case of Tekleberhan Negash and his co-accused who had been tried, among others, on charges of genocide crime. This case was only one of the numerous cases decided by Ethiopian Courts for genocide crime committed during the “Derg” regime. Thus, it is a doctrinal legal research by using Ethiopia’s and International Criminal Law, Decided Case, and conceptual approaches. Accordingly, it has analyzed this nationally prosecuted international core crimes cases in light of international criminal law standards with special reference to the law of genocide.},
year = {2022}
}
TY - JOUR T1 - Prosecuting Crime of Genocide in Ethiopia: A Case Comment on SPO vs. Tekleberhan Negash et al AU - Diriba Adugna Tulu Y1 - 2022/04/20 PY - 2022 N1 - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20220502.12 DO - 10.11648/j.ijls.20220502.12 T2 - International Journal of Law and Society JF - International Journal of Law and Society JO - International Journal of Law and Society SP - 153 EP - 159 PB - Science Publishing Group SN - 2640-1908 UR - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijls.20220502.12 AB - The crime of genocide was first enshrined under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of crime of Genocide. Before 1948, acts that constituted to genocide documented during WWII were never articulated as crimes of genocide in the International Military Tribunal and International Military Tribunal for the Far East. Instead, these conduct formed part of crimes against humanity and their prosecution was limited to that. However, after the adoption of the 1948 Genocide Convention, subsequent instruments such as the ICTR Statute, ICTY Statute and the Rome Statute in the 1990s specifically enshrined the crime of genocide independent and separate from crime against humanity. Ethiopia is not new to prosecuting and punishing international core crimes. In Ethiopia, the “Derg” era was characterized by the execution and disappearance of thousands of dissidents. This article critically analyses the sentencing judgment issued on 04 November 2002 by the Tigrian State Supreme Court in the case of Tekleberhan Negash and his co-accused who had been tried, among others, on charges of genocide crime. This case was only one of the numerous cases decided by Ethiopian Courts for genocide crime committed during the “Derg” regime. Thus, it is a doctrinal legal research by using Ethiopia’s and International Criminal Law, Decided Case, and conceptual approaches. Accordingly, it has analyzed this nationally prosecuted international core crimes cases in light of international criminal law standards with special reference to the law of genocide. VL - 5 IS - 2 ER -
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