VZCZCXRO4507
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHDS #0049/01 0061429
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 061429Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8542
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADDIS ABABA 000049 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF DAS YAMAMOTO, AF/E, AF/PD, AND DRL:K.GILBRIDE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KJUS KDEM ET
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIAN OPPOSITION DENIED BAIL; NEXT HEARING IN 
SEVEN WEEKS 
 
REF: A. ADDIS ABABA 4228 
 
     ¶B. ADDIS ABABA 4202 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY:  After holding CUD opposition leaders, 
independent journalists, NGO representatives, and other 
individuals suspected of anti-government activity in jail for 
nine weeks, the High Court ruled on January 4 to reject their 
request for bail, and decided to schedule the next hearing in 
late February.  The court also decided that a boy who claims 
he is age 14 should remain in custody pending the court's 
confirmation of his age, and that those not appearing in 
court will be tried in absentia.  In response to the 
conspicuous absence of any defense counsels, the court 
instructed defendants to have counsel present or the court 
would appoint public defenders; defense counsels had decided 
to boycott the January 4 session to highlight prison 
officials' refusal to grant detainees access to their lawyers 
on December 23 (ref A).  In contrast to previous sessions, 
the court did not allow defendants to speak on their own 
behalf, and quickly adjourned the session when defendants 
sought to make statements.  Prosecutors have moved to change 
the venue of the court proceedings from the current location 
in central Addis Ababa, citing security reasons.  Police 
officials detained at least three family members as they 
exited the court, in full view of diplomatic observers and 
over the protests of parents.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) On January 4, nine weeks after Coalition for Unity and 
Democracy (CUD) party chairman Hailu Shawel and other leading 
opposition members were first taken into custody, Ethiopia's 
High Court ruled against granting bail to any of the more 
than 80 defendants awaiting prosecution for capital crimes 
ranging from "obstructing the Constitutional order" to high 
treason and genocide (ref B).  The presiding judge noted that 
while defendants had cited international human rights 
conventions, the court also had to consider Ethiopian law and 
whether the gravity of the seven substantive charges being 
brought against the defendants allowed bail.  In announcing 
his decision, the presiding judge explained that he rejected 
the defendants' argument that this was a political, rather 
than a criminal case; he also rejected their assertion that 
prosecutors had presented insufficient evidence to justify 
continuing detention without bail. 
 
¶3. (U) Professor Mesfin Woldemariam (age 76), who had been on 
a hunger strike, did not appear in court; a police official 
testified that his absence was due to unspecified health 
reasons.  All the other approximately 80 detainees appeared 
in court, although none were allowed to speak.  Hailu Shawel 
appeared to require assistance from other detainees in 
walking from a prison vehicle to the courtroom. 
 
¶4. (U) The court also heard a motion by prosecutors (but did 
not rule on it) that recommended changing the venue of the 
trial, from its current location at a Derg-era theater on the 
Ministry of Finance Compound, to an unspecified location. 
Prosecutors argued that the current site's proximity to 
schools (e.g., Addis Ababa University) was a security 
concern.  Most courtroom observers, including family members, 
believe prosecutors seek to move proceedings to Kaliti 
prison, on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, where the defendants 
have been held since December 21. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
POSSIBLE 14-YEAR-OLD REMAINS JAILED PENDING PROOF OF AGE 
--------------------------------------------- ----------- 
 
¶5. (U) The court also ruled that it would have to determine 
the true age of the youngest defendant.  On December 28, 
Biniyam Tadesse testified that he was 14 years old (which 
would render him a minor under Ethiopian law).  At the 
beginning of the January 4 session, the presiding judge 
announced that Addis Ababa's Black Lion Hospital had 
determined that Biniyam was actually age 16-17, and that he 
therefore would face the same capital charge of "Outrages 
against the Constitution or the Constitutional Order" as all 
the other defendants.  Biniyam protested that he had not been 
examined by any medical personnel, and that, furthermore, he 
possessed baptismal certificates showing he was 14. 
Prosecutors responded that Biniyam had told police he was age 
16, and that any certificates presented after the case was in 
progress should be disallowed.  After reviewing the 
certificates in question, the presiding judge announced that 
the court would have to determine Biniyam's age through 
independent means.  Biniyam remains in custody.  (NOTE: 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000049  002 OF 003 
 
 
Post's consular section notes that Ethiopian authorities are 
usually compliant and timely in providing verifications of 
official documents when requested; the High Court, however, 
did not announce that it would subpoena other records.  END 
NOTE.) 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
DEFENSE COUNSELS BOYCOTT FOLLOWING DENIAL OF ACCESS 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶6. (U) The presiding judge also ruled that due to the scope 
of the case (i.e., 131 defendants, each facing from one to 
seven counts of capital crimes), defendants either needed to 
have their own attorneys, or the court would appoint public 
defenders.  No defense counsels participated in the January 4 
proceedings; in contrast, 16 defense attorneys appeared in 
court on December 21 when the defendants were formally 
charged, and two attended December 28. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Defense counsels have decided not to attend court 
proceedings in order to underscore that they have not met 
with defendants since defendants were moved on December 21 to 
Kaliti prison.  A group of 13 defense counsels attempted to 
see the defendants on December 23, but all were rebuffed by 
prison officials who required that they present specific 
documentation from the court designating them as the 
defendants' counsel (ref A).  One lawyer, who returned the 
next day, to see another client in an unrelated criminal 
case, was admitted entry.  In the defense counsels' view, 
such discrimination violates Ethiopian law, highlights the 
political nature of the charges against the detained CUD 
leadership and others, and is contrary to the prevailing 
practice of allowing lawyers to enter prisons to see any 
client, so long as they present a lawyer's license.  During 
their December 28 court appearance, defendants raised the 
irregularity of requiring special credentials for their 
lawyers; the presiding judge also noted that the High Court 
had not previously been required to provide such 
documentation to prison officials, but took no further action 
on the matter.  Three jailed representatives of civil society 
NGOs, who seek to have their case separated from that of the 
other 128 defendants, have been able to have an attorney 
visit them; none of the other more than 80 detainees, 
however, has met with a lawyer since being moved to Kaliti. 
In a meeting with lead defense counsels on January 6 
(septel), Charge and other chiefs of mission urged the 
defense attorneys to return to the prison and try to seek 
access again. 
 
¶8. (U) Unlike previous court sessions, the presiding judge 
did not allow defendants to speak on their own behalf at the 
January 4 hearing.  After announcing his three decisions 
(that those not present would be tried in absentia; that the 
court would determine the age of Biniyam Tadesse; and that 
defendants needed their own attorneys present), the presiding 
judge ordered defendant and Addis Ababa mayor-elect Dr. 
Berhanu Nega to stop reading a written statement on behalf of 
the detainees.  Berhanu's protest to the court, "If you don't 
want to hear from me, we reject this court," led to a 
spontaneous outburst of applause from the more than 80 
detainees.  Fellow defendant Bertukan Mideksa (CUD vice chair 
and a former high court judge) then attempted to speak, 
noting that she was an attorney and could therefore represent 
herself.  The presiding judge responded that if the 
defendants had something to present, they could do so at the 
next hearing; he then abruptly adjourned the session. 
 
------------------------------------------ 
POLICE DETAIN FAMILY MEMBERS EXITING COURT 
------------------------------------------ 
 
¶9. (U) Family members expressed concern to Embassy observers 
about the court's decision that the next proceeding would not 
occur for seven weeks, on February 23.  As police escorted 
detainees out into unmarked vans, the elderly mother of a 
defendant cried hysterically and protested her son's 
innocence to diplomatic observers and media representatives. 
Police then detained at least three other family members as 
they exited the courtroom; observers identified two of them 
as daughters of CUD executive committee member Major Getachew 
Mengiste.  Their mother protested that she would not leave 
the ministry compound without her children.  She was 
immediately surrounded by at least a dozen police officers 
armed with billy clubs, who retreated upon encountering 
diplomatic observers lingering outside the court.  Police 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00000049  003 OF 003 
 
 
then escorted Getachew's wife away.  (NOTE: Defense attorneys 
subsequently reported that the daughters were likely detained 
for contempt of court, for either crossing their legs or 
applauding in the court, both seen by court officials as 
signs of disrespect.  According to defense attorneys, court 
officials have detained others for crossing their legs in 
court, usually women, and then subsequently released them on 
bail without formally charging them.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶10. (SBU) COMMENT:  Although this marks the seventh time that 
defendants have appeared in court, prosecutors have yet to 
present any formal testimony in court against the defendants, 
who have all been formally charged with crimes punishable by 
life imprisonment or death.  The case against the 131 
defendants (34 of whom are to be tried in absentia) remains 
in the pre-trial stage, nine weeks after many were first 
detained, and two weeks since prosecutors presented formal 
charges.  The judge's decision to schedule the next court 
appearance seven weeks from now represents a significant 
break from the weekly hearings of the last month.  The GOE 
appears to be concerned that the hearings are becoming a 
focal point for street protests, although there were no 
significant protests on January 4.  Ongoing delays in 
presenting the case against the detainees, the court's 
refusal to allow defendants to speak on their own behalf in 
the absence of defense counsel, and the prosecution of at 
least four adolescents on capital charges, are increasingly 
eroding the credibility of a trial that has been 
controversial from the start.  END COMMENT. 
HUDDLESTON