News: Court rules Colonel Gemechu Ayana et. al remain under custody despite closing case file

By Siyanne Mekonnen @Siyaanne

Addis Abeba – The federal supreme court this morning closed the case file of Colonel Gemechu Ayana, senior Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), and four other ranking members of the party after the defense team filed complaints of human rights violations and defiance of court orders by prosecutors and the police. Only 3 of the defendants including Colonel Gemechu was arraigned in court today and the whereabouts of the remaining two defendants are “unknown”, lawyer Milkiyas Bulcha told Addis Standard. 

In November last year, the prosecutor filed an appeal against the defendants in Colonel Gemechu’s file at the federal supreme court six months after he and 13 other OLF members were acquitted of terrorism charges. The prosecutor filed an appeal at the federal supreme court to overturn the decision made by the federal high court. The federal high court dismissed the prosecutor’s evidence that included tapped phone conversations which are no longer admissible in court as per the new proclamation 1176/2012. 

During the next consecutive sessions, the defense team filed complaints to the court detailing the human rights violations their clients suffered due to several unlawful arrests and rearrests, according to Milkiyas. He added that the defense team complained to the court about how the prosecutor collaborated with the police to keep their clients under detention by force for over 6 months defying court orders. 

The lawyers also accused the federal attorney general of failing to dispose of its duties of addressing the rights violations of the defendants while they were in detention. “We demanded our clients to be freed. Our clients were not only unlawfully hailed but were also prevented from meeting their defense team,” he said.  

The defense team demanded that their clients should be set free and follow the case from outside, Milkiyas said, further expressing doubts about the autonomy of the court. The defense team demanded that all those in the justice system from the federal attorney general to the police be held accountable as per civil and criminal code, the lawyer explained. 

The judges then decided to suspend the prosecutor’s appeal and ordered the prosecutor to provide an explanation and launch an investigation into the alleged rights violations. Milkiyas explained that  the court decided that the defendants to remain under custody since “they don’t know who arrested them.” 

“It is odd that the court doesn’t know who jailed our defendants. We will file a complaint at the judicial administration council,” Milkiyas said, adding, “Our clients were transferred to several detention centers including informal ones but currently they are detained at the federal police investigation bureau. We don’t know why the judges closed the file but failed to release our clients” 

 The judges did not set an alternative appointment and the duration of time allowed for the prosecutor to finalize its investigation while the defendants remain under custody is not known, Milkiyas said. “This is a clear violation of local and international laws that warrants disciplinary measures,” he added.  He disclosed that the defense team will file an appeal to the federal supreme court cassation division or judicial administration council after discussing with their clients. 

The defendants were taken back to the federal police’s detention center in Addis Abeba where they have been staying for the last several months. 

The hearings of the defendants in Colonel Gemechu’s file after the reopening of the file in November featured many irregularities including an absence of judges from the trials. Most of the trials were postponed multiple times. At his first appearance after his acquittal, Gemechu had to attend the hearing in the absence of his defense team because they were was not made aware of his court appearance. The hearing was postponed until the next day but the police did not bring the defendants to court on that day either. 

Colonel Gemechu who was previously jailed and freed from charges was re-arrested in July 2020 after the assassination of Hachalu Hundessa where terrorism charges were re-instated.  For 18 months, he remained jailed after he was repeatedly granted bail and re-arrested multiple times, and transferred to over 18 formal and informal detention camps without the knowledge of his family and lawyers, Milkiyas said.  AS