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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ADDIS ABABA 001788 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR AF/E DESK OFFICER MIKE GONZALES AND AF/E 
LONDON, PARIS, ROME FOR AFRICA WATCHER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV ET
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA: VIDEO PHASE OF CUD TRIAL CONCLUDES 
WITHOUT CONVINCING EVIDENCE 
 
REF: ADDIS ABABA 1645 
 
 ¶1. (U) SUMMARY: The prosecution wrapped up the video phase 
of evidence in its case against detained opposition Coalition 
for Unity and Democracy (CUD) leaders, independent 
journalists and civil society representatives on June 26. 
The final four videos had nothing more damning than those 
videos previously shown.  The final video, which was a sort 
of highlight reel of the worst CUD comments from the other 18 
tapes, was thrown out for being &inappropriate8 as 
evidence. The audiocassette stage comes next, and may take 
only a few days.  It does not appear that the trial will 
finish before the court goes on summer recess in August and 
September, however.  In the meantime, defendants continue to 
have health problems resulting from prison conditions.  END 
SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) International observers continue to attend all trial 
sessions.  In addition to USG rep, the European Union and 
United Nations have representatives present nearly every day, 
as well as a rotation of representatives from various 
European embassies. In addition, Lawyers Without Borders 
(LWOB) representatives from the US have been attending the 
trial daily with a local LWOB attorney. 
 
------------------------------------ 
DEFENDANTS, HEALTH BECOMING AN ISSUE 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶3. (U) Defendants who are present in court continue to appear 
mostly healthy and in good spirits.  However, a number of 
defendants have missed court appearances due to health 
related issues in the last two weeks, even leading to 
adjournment of court for the June 21 session, because 8 
defendants were out sick.  Notably, Maj. Getachew Mengiste 
has missed several days for surgery for what he had described 
as a life threatening illness.  Pregnant journalist Serkalem 
Fassil has also been out for an extended period, but has 
delivered her baby, which is reported to be underweight but 
otherwise healthy. 
 
¶4. (U) More recently, defendant Berhanu Nega was hospitalized 
for two weeks for serious respiratory problems.  Though he 
has since been discharged and is attending court sessions 
again, his wife (an Amcit opthamalogist) told Poloff that the 
combination of Berhanu,s prior health history and the poor 
conditions in which he is kept at the prison, put him at risk 
for serious illness.  Kidist Bekele, another defendant 
complaining of health issues, announced to the court on June 
27 that she is suffering from serious medical conditions 
stemming from her epilepsy.  (NOTE:  She looked very sick and 
had trouble standing and talking.) She claimed that doctors 
had given her instructions to seek full-time help in a 
specialized hospital, but that to date she has been permitted 
only to visit the police hospital and only twice per week. 
"If I die because of this, it will be the court's fault,8 
she told the bench.  The judge ordered the prison officials 
to &do something as soon as possible8 about her situation. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
A ROUGH ENDING TO VIDEO STAGE FOR PROSECUTION 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) Despite the prosecution's withdrawal of 7 of the final 
9 videocassettes that were to be shown (reftel), the 
prosecutor on June 12 announced that they wished to introduce 
3 new videos which were not originally listed on the evidence 
list.  Though the defense attorneys objected, the judge, 
quoting the criminal procedure code, permitted them to be 
shown. 
 
¶6. (U) Only two of the new videos were eventually allowed to 
be presented, while the third was thrown out by the court. 
Shortly after the presentation of the third and final tape 
began (which was essentially a highlight reel of quotes and 
clips from the other videos that have been presented), the 
defense attorneys objected complaining that the video had a 
&very biased tone,8 that it was impossible to know the 
context of the quotes since they were only 10-15 second 
soundbites, and that the evidence was redundant, as most of 
the footage was from videos already shown in court in their 
entirety.  The bench, after a adjourning for a day, decided 
to disallow the tape on grounds that the footage had already 
been presented in court.  The judge further pointed out that 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00001788  002 OF 003 
 
 
when they initially permitted it to be shown, that they 
assumed that it would contain entirely new footage.  The 
prosecution withdrew the tape and announced that it is moving 
on the audiocassette phase of the trial. 
 
7 (SBU) After being denied permission to show the video, the 
prosecution prepared copies of the disallowed footage, with 
written explanation of the content, and presented them to 
international observers at the end of the following session 
of court.  The prosecution told the international observers 
that they regretted not being able to show them in court. 
 
 
----------------------- 
AUDIO PHASE TO BE BRIEF 
----------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) Though the prosecution had originally submitted 11 
audio tapes for evidence, they currently have plans to play 
only one - an interview with Hailu Shawel on Tinsae Ethiopia 
Radio on October 15, 20005.  There was no explanation of 
whether they will eventually decide to play the other 10 or 
why they currently have no plans to present them. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
SUMMER BREAK FOR THE BENCH, BUT NOT FOR DETAINEES 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶9. (SBU) According to Michael Ellman, the permanent observer 
assigned by the European Union for the trial, head judge Adil 
Ahmed Abdullahi told him that the there is little hope for an 
end to the trial before the court recess, now planned for 
August and September.  Post recently issued a visa to Adil 
for a 4-5 week trip to the US for work and family reasons, 
beginning July 30.  He will be traveling on an Ethiopian 
Embassy program, together with other Ethiopian judges, for a 
12 day program focused "on the judicial system." 
 
---------------------------------- 
VIDEO EVIDENCE ON GENOCIDE CHARGES 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (U) On June 15 the prosecutor presented a video of a 
pre-election rally (no date given) in Oromia.  The prosecutor 
said it showed defendant Bedru Adem inciting violence against 
Tigreans and argued that this was proof of the charge against 
him of attempted genocide.  Indeed the video did show Bedru 
pointing out that Tigreans have the lions share of government 
authority and questioning &why with 35% of the population - 
Oromos only have grassroots positions of authority8 in 
comparison with Tigrean government ministers.  However he 
prefaced these statements with the remark, "I have great 
respect and love for the people of Tigray.8  As has been the 
case, Ethiopian Television (ETV), which reports nightly on 
the trial, featured a story highlighting the charges made by 
the prosecution against Bedru, but did not summarize any of 
the content of the video.  This caused Bedru to complain in 
the following court session that, even though the judges had 
ruled that ETV must present a fair and unbiased report of the 
daily proceedings (reftel), they have not done so.  He asked 
the judge to pressure ETV further in order to put a stop to 
this type of reporting.  After deliberation, the judge denied 
Bedru,s request, stating that he &can do nothing more to 
dictate the journalists8 and he stated that it is difficult 
to summarize a three-hour video in a brief television 
broadcast. 
 
¶11. (U) The other three tapes - one of Mesfin Woldemariam 
giving a speech at pre-May election 2005 political debate, 
and two tapes of footage of CUD Supreme Council meetings to 
decide on whether to join the parliament and negotiation 
strategy with the EPRDF ) made little obvious headway in 
establishing concrete evidence against the accused.  In 
Mesfin,s speech, he made wide ranging comments on state of 
democratic systems and the constitution in Ethiopia.  This 
was punctuated by criticism of the EPRDF,s human rights 
record and the autocratic manner in which the country has 
been governed since the party came to power.   Mesfin,s 
point was that &democratic systems are ruled by law, not by 
individuals,8 which is fundamental to the constitution.   He 
listed large numbers of people he claimed had been killed in 
recent years by the government, and yet the government had 
&never seen a courtroom.8  Mesfin was not critical of the 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00001788  003 OF 003 
 
 
constitution itself, however; his speech was more of a 
defense of the constitution against what the EPRDF had 
(allegedly) been doing to it.  He went on to preach about the 
benefits of democracy and how it was preferable to any other 
system, in part because over time, governments are forced to 
&self-correct8 problems in the system. 
 
¶12. (U) The footage of the CUD Supreme Council meetings 
primarily centered on the consequences of the CUD,s decision 
on whether to join the parliament.   There was some 
dissension among Council members about whether there would be 
violent unrest among supporters as a result, or whether the 
situation would remain relatively peaceful.  Although all 
agreed that by joining parliament they were in effect lending 
legitimacy to the EPRDF government, many were worried that by 
boycotting parliament, their offices would be closed, the CUD 
party banned, and violent uprising by the public would 
follow.  Behanu Nega argued that &there is nothing beyond 
peaceful struggle and a member who sees otherwise is not a 
part of this (CUD) party.8 He also claimed that &there will 
be no revolution.8  Another major point of discussion among 
members was whether to push for inclusion of the 299 
constituencies that the CUD claimed it had won in the May 
elections, in addition to other demands, as a condition for 
joining parliament.  Essentially, by forcing &the 299 
issue,8 they concluded that they would likely remain out of 
parliament and thus not be representing the voters that did 
in fact elect them.  At the same time, failing to raise this 
issue would not be fair to those whose votes were &stolen.8 
 In the end, the CUD Supreme Council chose not to press the 
EPRDF on this issue. At no point did anyone call for violent 
struggle, armed resistance or an overthrow of the 
constitutional system, as had been suggested by the 
prosecutor. 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
COMMENT: HEAVY BURDEN NOW ON WITNESSES AND DOCUMENTS 
--------------------------------------------- ------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) The video phase of evidence ended much as it began 
- with little concrete evidence against the defendants on the 
charges raised by the prosecution.  To date, the videos have 
clearly demonstrated that the CUD party was unwilling to 
accept the results of the May 2005 election, that they were 
unwilling to join the parliament unless the EPRDF made 
significant concessions, and that the party had a great deal 
of support at rallies in areas in and around Addis Ababa. 
Videos also showed the devastation caused by the June and 
November uprisings, but drew no direct link to any of the 
detainees.  It is difficult find evidence that supports the 
charge of &attempted genocide,8 though the tape of Bedru 
Adem's comments did document the anti-Tigrayan rhetoric 
employed by the CUD during the campaign.  In general, 
however, CUD leaders maintained a consistent line in the 
videos in favor of non-violent struggle.  The burden now 
falls to written documents and witness testimony to link the 
defendants more persuasively with the charges they face. 
HUDDLESTON