VZCZCXRO4777
RR RUEHROV
DE RUEHDS #2143/01 2191302
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 061302Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1558
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA
RUEWMFD/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE
RHMFIUU/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC
RHEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ADDIS ABABA 002143 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
AF/E FOR KNIGHT 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KJUS ET
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA'S JUDICIAL SYSTEM: IN TRANSITION 
 
REF: ADDIS ABABA 2116 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) This cable provides a brief overview of Ethiopia's 
judicial system, based on contacts with legal practitioners. 
Ethiopia has both a regional (state) and a federal court 
system.  The federal system handles matters of federal law 
and has benefited from external assistance, primarily from 
Canada, focusing on judicial administration and information 
technology and designed to boost the efficiency of process. 
Corruption is not a significant concern, but judicial 
independence remains at issue as there is no judicial review 
and constitutional interpretation remains with the 
ruling-party dominated parliament, which is also responsible 
for judicial appointments.  Access to judicial mechanisms is 
gradually increasing but is still difficult for Ethiopia, due 
to chronic underdevelopment.  Ethiopia's legal practitioners 
underscore that Ethiopia is committed to professionalizing 
the judiciary and the United States Mission will continue to 
work with the American Bar Association, Ethiopia's law 
schools and implementing partners toward that end. End 
Summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) To get a portrait of Ethiopia's judicial system, 
Emboffs interviewed the Vice President of the Federal Supreme 
Court and judges from the Federal High Court and Federal 
Court of First Instance, members of the Ethiopian Bar 
Association, faculty at Addis Ababa University Law School, 
and a staff member at the Ethiopian Ministry of Justice. 
Emboffs also spoke with contacts at the American Bar 
Association office in Addis Ababa (whose activities are 
currently suspended due to uncertainty over the pending civil 
society law's effects on its programs) and the Canadian 
Embassy. 
 
Judicial Heritage and Structure 
------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) The Ethiopian judiciary is "still in transition," 
according to Ethiopian Bar Association (EBA) members, who 
added that three governments in 34 years have imposed steep 
costs on the administration of justice. "Changing governments 
without elections," an EBA member said, "is expensive.  It 
disrupts priorities and directions.  We have had three 
distinct economic and political philosophies in three 
governments.  With completely different people in office, 
institutional knowledge and manpower has been squandered and 
there has been no relay of ideas and capacity from generation 
to generation.  Nothing has been inherited from previous 
regimes."  EBA members said the 1994 federal constitution did 
improve on the Dergue-era constitution in a number of areas, 
but that application of law remains unpredictable due to a 
young, inexperienced judiciary and the relative newness of 
the current legal regime.  Ethiopia practices a "hybrid" 
system of law, based largely on the French code and other 
continental influences, but with elements of common law 
practice, particularly in procedural matters.  There are no 
juries and in most instances in federal court three judge 
panels hear cases. 
 
¶4. (SBU) As a federal system, Ethiopia has both federal and 
regional (state) courts.  In ascending order, woreda, zonal 
and regional (state) courts comprise the regional (state) 
system.  The state system hears matters under state law, 
although decisions at the State Court are appealable to the 
Federal Supreme Court.  The federal courts are composed of, 
in ascending order, the Court of First Instance, the High 
Court and the Supreme Court.  Federal courts have 
jurisdiction over matters of federal law.  Most federal 
benches are located in Addis Ababa, although the following 
regions have Federal High Court benches: Somali, 
Beneshanghul, Afar, Gambella, and Southern Nations, 
Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP).  In regions without federal 
benches, zonal courts handle federal matters.  Most larger 
regions, such as Oromiya and Amhara, do not have federal 
benches because their state court systems are presumed to 
have the capacity to handle delegated authority.  In both 
systems, the courts hear both civil and criminal cases. 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00002143  002 OF 004 
 
 
There are some special administrative courts as well, and 
some social (or traditional) courts at the kebele (village) 
level.  Sharia courts are permitted for family/inheritance 
matters, but individuals theoretically have the right to opt 
out.  In such cases, disputes are resolved through the 
federal courts.  The relationship between the formal courts 
and more traditional dispute resolution mechanisms is still 
to be defined.  Jurisprudence is underdeveloped in key 
emerging areas, such as anti-trust law, and there is no 
system for reporting cases (other than from the Federal 
Supreme Court's Cassation Bench). Access to judicial 
mechanisms is gradually increasing but is still difficult for 
Ethiopians given the country's chronic underdevelopment and 
poor educational system.  Many impoverished Ethiopians know 
little about their legal rights nor can they afford to pursue 
them within the courts. 
 
The Lower Federal Courts 
------------------------ 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Federal Court of First Instance has jurisdiction 
in civil cases for matters below 500,000 birr (approximately 
USD 50,000).  The Federal High Court hears civil cases in 
excess of 500,000 birr and serious criminal offenses 
(including, according to a High Court judge, murder, 
counterfeiting and crimes against the Ethiopian 
Constitution).  The Federal High Court has 48 judges, drawn 
from all regions of the country: 10 Amhara, 9 Oromo, 7 
Tigray,  5 Gurage, 2 Harar,  2 Agoa (Amhara), 2 Afar, 2 
Kambetta, 1 Somali, 1 Berta, 1 Gamo, 1 Tambaro, 1 Benji, plus 
four recent hires (background unknown). The court makes an 
effort to reflect Ethiopia's diversity but does not expressly 
balance ethnicities/origins with population, as demonstrated 
by the relative dearth of Oromos, by far Ethiopia's largest 
ethnic group. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Progress is being made on judicial administration. 
The current backlog of cases pending has been reduced to 
6,500 from 15,000 three years ago.  More than 75 percent of 
cases are adjudicated fully within one year.  Transcription 
machines and case management software and databases have 
contributed greatly to more efficient administration, 
provided with the assistance of the Canadian government.  In 
addition, prior to 2005 three judge panels were required for 
all criminal cases; now, a single judge can rule on criminal 
cases subject to penalties of less than 15 years.  However, 
as efficiency of judicial administration has increased, so 
too have caseloads, due, according to several interlocutors, 
to greater assertiveness by potential claimants and greater 
awareness of legal rights by the Ethiopian population. 
 
The Federal Supreme Court 
------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) The Supreme Court has 21 judges who serve in two 
divisions, Cassation (jurisdiction limited to fundamental 
errors of law) and Appellate (jurisdiction over both 
questions of fact and of law).  The Cassation Bench convenes 
a three judge panel to determine if there has been a 
"fundamental error of law."  If so, five judges will be 
paneled to the case.  The Appellate Division convenes three 
judges both to screen and hear cases.  Case management is 
efficient, with only 2078 cases pending and an average 
duration for each case only 4.27 months.  Supreme Court 
judges are paid as much as 9,000 birr per month, and receive 
2,000 birr and 450 birr in non-taxable housing and transport 
allowances respectively.  About 30 percent of cases are 
inheritance-related, due to administrative inefficiencies 
throughout Ethiopia (such as the absence of any mechanism to 
register births).  In 2006, the Cassation Bench introduced 
stare decisis (essentially, precedent-based law) and now 
publishes its decisions and distributes them to federal 
judges. 
 
Judicial Capacity 
----------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU)  Federal  judges cited the effective administration 
of justice as their primary focus (and challenge), 
particularly in criminal cases, where investigative capacity 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00002143  003 OF 004 
 
 
is weak and can adversely affect the whole process.  As noted 
above, the members of the federal bench are also relatively 
inexperienced.  Anyone over 25 can be a federal judge, and 
for many at the Court of First Instance, where the average 
age is 30-32, their judgeship is their first job.  The 
average age for Federal High Court judges is 35.  Legal 
practitioners trained under the Emperor or Dergue regimes 
lament this relative inexperience on the bench, but members 
of the federal judiciary defended the system's hiring 
practices by arguing that the current legal regime is less 
than twenty years old (so there has been a need to train a 
new generation of lawyers and judges) and that Ethiopia's 
youth movement is not out of the norm for many Continental 
law-based countries.  "For some time we will rely on new 
graduates as a practical matter, because Ethiopia simply does 
not have many experienced legal professionals," the Supreme 
Court Acting President said.  Attrition for judges is high as 
many jump to private practice, although a recent bump in 
federal judges' salaries has produced higher retention. 
Federal courts require law school diplomas.  Most regional 
court systems are also raising their education requirements 
for the bench, with the exception of Gambella.  A training 
institute for judges and prosecutors has been established for 
four regions: Addis Ababa, Oromiya, Amhara and Southern 
Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP). 
 
¶9. (SBU) An Addis Ababa Law School (AAU Law) contact told us 
that graduating classes at AAU comprise approximately 120 
students, up from 50-60 a decade ago.  With private schools 
in Addis, Ethiopia graduates approximately 1500 law students 
per year, our contact said, adding that he believes the 
economy can absorb the recent graduates.  The EBA, however, 
has only approximately 450 members, and EBA contacts told us 
only Ethiopia only has 800-900 licensed trial attorneys, 
relatively low numbers for a country with a population of 
roughly 80-90 million.  The law school now has fifty percent 
female students, although there are still very few female 
judges.  The Ministry of Education places students from AAU 
in the law school and the process is not transparent.  Though 
AAU Law is 40 years old, the alumni association has only been 
around for the past eight years.  AAU Law has 25 teachers, 
plus 7-8 retired judges who work part time.  Only two AAU Law 
faculty members are women. 
 
Judicial Independence 
--------------------- 
 
¶10. (SBU) Judicial practitioners interviewed painted a mixed 
picture on judicial independence. Judges said that they 
decide cases in accordance with law and are not subject to 
interference by the executive branch of the government.  The 
Federal High Court judge who presided over the post-2005 
trial of leading opposition figures was particularly adamant 
that he did not face any government pressure in deciding the 
case.  However, EBA members contend that "legal practice is 
totally dominated by Ethiopia's Executive branch" and point 
out that Ethiopia has no judicial review.  "The Courts," as 
one put it, "are not the guarantors of the Constitution, the 
highest law of the land."  In fact, the House of Federation, 
the second house of parliament, has the sole authority to 
interpret constitutional issues.  The 108 members are 
appointed by the EPRDF-dominated regional governments.  What 
constitutes a "constitutional issue" is still undefined, our 
interlocutors underscored, thereby giving the government 
broad authority to intervene on even petty matters "in 
defense of the constitution."  Finally, in absence of a grand 
jury system, the judiciary has often served in recent years 
as a proxy of the Executive branch because those charged can 
be detained throughout the prosecution phase of a trial, and 
only after the prosecution rests does anyone consider if the 
prosecution (led by the MOJ) presented an adequate case to 
justify continuation of the trial to the defense phase.  If 
not, the court can, sometimes after a number of years, 
dismiss the charges for their inadequacy.  Accused persons 
can thus spend great lengths of time in prison even where the 
government has no case. 
 
¶11. (SBU) There are other abrogations of judicial authority. 
For example, the newly passed media law purportedly devolves 
the authority to rule on the legal matters related to the law 
 
ADDIS ABAB 00002143  004 OF 004 
 
 
to the ombudsman and makes defamation against government 
officials prosecutable as a matter of state, with the truth 
of the facts underlying any defamatory statement no defense 
(thus leaving little role for courts aside from sentencing). 
Likewise, one contact told us that under the new banking law, 
banks can foreclose on property without a court order, and 
the law is silent on whether appeals can be made to the 
courts.  "We have," the EBA member said, "separation of 
function, not separation of power."  Moreover, certain court 
actions, coincidentally or not, echo the government's recent 
efforts to chill and diminish civil society.  On August 4, 
the Federal High Court detained Mesfin Negash, the editor of 
a popular local paper, for "contempt of court" for simply 
printing an exact quote from a defense lawyer in the Teddy 
Afro trial, in which the lawyer threatened to sue the 
presiding judge for bias (septel).  In addition, an EBA 
member also noted that in politically sensitive cases, the 
ruling party works behind the scenes to ensure presiding 
judges understand the party's position and rule accordingly. 
While such allegations are difficult to prove, the recent 
release of Assefa Abraha, the brother of Seeye Abraha, 
patently a political decision (and following senior level 
United States-Ethiopia bilateral consultations), does 
indicate the ruling party retains considerable influence on 
the judicial system (reftel).  NOTE: The Ethiopian judges we 
spoke with were careful to distinguish between their role in 
sentencing and the penal system's role in enforcing 
sentences, to argue that pardons or commutations of sentences 
did not reflect government influence on the judiciary itself. 
 END NOTE. 
 
Corruption 
---------- 
 
¶12. (SBU) Judicial practitioners interviewed said that there 
appears to be little egregious corruption in the court 
system.  One Federal High Court judge said, "We hear some 
complaints of some corruption, but they are hard to 
substantiate.  In any event, such complaints are rare and at 
worst reflect petty corruption."  The Ministry of Justice 
(MOJ) has brought cases against 17 judges over the past year, 
and all but two have been dismissed.  MOJ has no direct role 
in the administration of the courts.  A fifteen member 
judicial commission, composed of members from two judges each 
from the three federal courts and three Ministers of 
Parliament (MPs), is charged with discipline and also deals 
with judges' nominations, remuneration and benefits.  The 
judicial commission reports to Parliament once per year. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶13. (SBU) Overall, the judicial system is in transition, but 
making discernible progress in judicial administration and 
information technology, with outside help.  Ethiopia's legal 
practitioners underscore that Ethiopia is committed to 
professionalizing the judiciary and the United States Mission 
will continue to work with the American Bar Association, 
Ethiopia's law schools and implementing partners toward that 
end.  Even with efficiency gains, however, as in most 
developing countries concerns remain about judicial 
independence and the Embassy will continue to urge the 
government to accept our technical assistance designed to 
boost judicial independence and capabilities.  End Comment. 
MALAC