Addis Abeba– Eight survivors of the Tigray war have filed a criminal complaint with the German Federal Public Prosecutor, accusing twelve senior Ethiopian and Eritrean government and military officials of committing “war crimes and crimes against humanity,” according to their legal representatives.
The complaint was prepared by Legal Action Worldwide (LAW) and Dr. Anna Oehmichen, with support from Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR). It was filed under Germany’s universal jurisdiction principle, which “allows states to prosecute international crimes committed abroad due to the egregious nature of the underlying conduct.”
LAW stated that the complaint was brought forward by eight survivors, including “a former humanitarian aid worker and a former interim government official.” Describing the case as “groundbreaking,” the organization said the complainants—like “hundreds of thousands of others”—had suffered “sexual violence, arbitrary detention, torture, and starvation” and had “thus far been denied access to justice.” Some of the complainants, LAW noted, “currently reside in Germany” and have asked the German Federal Public Prosecutor to launch an investigation.
According to LAW, the war in Tigray, which began in November 2020, was marked by “persistent allegations of atrocities,” including “forced starvation, humanitarian aid blockades, massacres, sexual and gender-based violence, torture, and arbitrary detention.” The complaint says that these abuses were “predominantly committed against Tigrayan civilians by Ethiopian and Eritrean forces, as well as allied militia groups.” However, “other parties to the conflict and civilians from other ethnic groups have also been implicated,” LAW said further citing a “widely referenced source” estimating the death toll of the conflict at “anywhere between 300,000 and 800,000 people.”
The International Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE), established in 2021 to investigate human rights abuses committed during the Tigray war, had urged international legal action, citing evidence of “war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on a staggering scale.” Before its mandate expired in October 2023, the commission called for further investigations to “definitively determine the occurrence of genocide against people in Tigray.”
In March 2023, the U.S. determined that crimes against humanity and war crimes were committed in the Tigray region, during Ethiopia’s two years war that started in Tigray and spread to Amhara and Afar regions.
“Many of these crimes were not random, or a mere byproduct of war, they were calculated and deliberate,” Former Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said while announcing the report.
“After the department’s careful review of the law and the facts, I have determined that members of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, Eritrean Defense Forces, Tigray People’s Liberation Front forces, and Amhara forces committed war crimes during the conflict in northern Ethiopia,” Blinken said explaining that all sides have committed war crimes.
Furthermore, “members of the Ethiopian National Defense Forces, Eritrean Defense Forces and Amhara forces also committed crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and other forms of sexual violence, and persecution,” Blinken said, adding that “members of the Amhara forces also committed the crime against humanity of deportation or forcible transfer and committed ethnic cleansing through their treatment of Tigrayans in western Tigray.”
ICHREE has since been liquidated and the issue of accountability for these crimes has largely shifted to Ethiopia’s transitional justice initiative. Established under the Pretoria Peace Agreement, the initiative aims to provide “accountability, truth-seeking, redress for victims, and reconciliation,” as outlined in Article 10(3) of the agreement. However, human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have criticized the process, arguing that it lacks credibility and independent oversight.
LAW pointed out that German authorities have previously used universal jurisdiction to prosecute atrocity crimes committed in Syria, The Gambia, and Iraq. The organization argued that Tigrayan victims now “demand their own day in court.” If the German prosecutor proceeds, it would mark “the first time such an investigation has been undertaken” regarding the Tigray war.
Dr. Anna Oehmichen, one of the legal representatives, described the crimes as “dramatic” and stressed the need for an investigation to “stop ongoing grave violations” and “deter other world leaders.”
Antonia Mulvey, Executive Director of LAW, stated that atrocities in Ethiopia were carried out “with a level of cruelty rarely seen” and that, despite the end of hostilities, victims are “no closer to seeing those responsible held to account.” She called the complaint an important step in their “brave pursuit of justice.”
Catherine Amirfar, Co-Chair of Debevoise & Plimpton LLP’s International Dispute Resolution and Public International Law Groups, said her firm was “honored to partner with LAW” and urged the German prosecutor to investigate, citing Ethiopia’s “ongoing failure” to prosecute those responsible.
LAW noted that this is its second complaint on behalf of Tigrayan victims. The first, filed with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in partnership with the Pan African Lawyers Union (PALU), says that Ethiopia had violated its obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
The organization noted that in October 2022, the African Commission issued “emergency provisional measures urging Ethiopia to cease all violations, including extrajudicial killings and sexual violence, and to ensure humanitarian access in Tigray.”
The complaint in Germany was initially submitted to the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office in September 2024 and was supplemented with additional evidence on March 20, 2025. LAW added that the German Federal Public Prosecutor “has the capacity to open structural investigations into alleged crimes,” conduct individual investigations, issue arrest warrants, and prosecute those responsible. AS
