. PRESS RELEASE

The Case of the “Coup Plotters”: Yet another Example of TPLF’s Farcical Justice System

May 27th, 2009
Statement

As it always happens, in direct violation of its own constitution and international human rights obligations, Meles Zenawi’s regime continues to hold over 40 detainees incommunicado. Despite appearing for the third time in court since their detention on April 24, 2009, the judge hearing their case in a closed trial ordered their continued detention without charge.

The regime has denied the detainees their rights to be visited by their families and legal counsel of their choice, a right guaranteed both under the country’s constitution and the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights as well as regional human rights instruments ratified by Ethiopia.

According to credible Ginbot 7 sources in Addis Ababa, the prisoners have been tortured and have visible wounds the regime does not want people to see. There have been several precedents in the past where political prisoners have been beaten severely and have to be brought to court in covered cars from which they were carried to court.

That is why on May 25, 2009, pick up trucks with canvas-covered beds backed up to the door of the courtroom of Arada First Instance court in Addis Ababa to drop off, and then pick up, prisoners out of the views of onlookers.

That is also why family members and relatives of the prisoners have not been allowed to visit their loved ones. In a perfect example of how far the regime is willing to go to hide the prisoners, the regime’s spokesperson, Shimelis Kemal, blatantly lied and told the Voice of America’s Peter Heinlein that no requests for prison visits have been made. Outside the court room, weeping relatives told reporters that their repeated attempts to visit the prisoners have not been successful.

To date, the regime has officially disclosed neither the exact number of its detainees nor their identities. Ginbot 7 has received credible evidence that, since the regime accused some members of the military of a coup plot, it has been conducting mass arrests of members of the Amhara ethnic group in Region 3 and Addis Ababa. The court appearance of the forty-something, while thousands are being held without charges, is a mere show being staged to give a false perception that there is a functioning and fair justice system under TPLF.

According to other recent reports Ginbot 7 has received, family members of wanted individuals continue to be targets. Among those detained is Mrs. Nigist Fasil Tessema, a mother of five children, including a 2 year old, and Mr. Shenkute Medfu, a 55 year old businessman, who happened to be the uncle of Colonel Amare Alebel, who is wanted by the regime. Hence, more reasons for the regime to hide the identities of the prisoners.

Ginbot 7 believes that all these arrests are part of the ongoing campaign of state terror by the TPLF/EPRDF regime designed to violently suppress the ever increasing dissent the regime faces. Ginbot 7 would also like to reiterate its stance that the 40 plus detainees the regime has officially acknowledged and those who continue to be detained and tortured are victims of the ethnocentric policy of the regime, which is determined to stay in power at all costs.

That is why Ginbot 7 reaffirms its commitment to continue the struggle towards the establishment of a democratic system in Ethiopia where equality and rule of law prevails.

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