Disappearance in police custody and remaining behind bars despite acquittal by the court of law. Oromia

STOP ILLEGAL
DETAINMENT!

 Disappearance in police custody and remaining behind bars despite acquittal by the court of law became a modus operandi in the Oromia regional state.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission revealed in a report in May, illegal detentions were rampant in Oromia region, in police stations, irregular prisons, military training camps, or military bases. The report highlighted the prisoners, especially those who are in the leadership of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) were arrested without due process of law.

“EHRC learned that they [OLF leaders ] are being illegally detained in various places for periods ranging from months to 2 years and some of them have been exposed to physical injuries and health problems due to improper treatment and beatings during the detention process”, the report said.

Arrests based on political activities are reportedly carried out without legal process and court orders. The reports on the arrest of the Vice-chairman of Finfinnee Renaissance Association and OLF political officer Batte Urgessa revealed this. It was no different for our two witnesses as both were arrested without a court order and one of them never got a day in court.

Dibaba was arrested on the evening of 03 May 2021 from his residence in Addis Abeba by the police around 8:30 PM EAT. Dibaba was arrested by security forces composed of Federal Police, Addis Abeba Police and intelligence operatives. Dibaba said, “I and two others were taken to the Burayu Police Station in the Oromia special zone surrounding Finfinnee”.

Our other witness Tola  was arrested on 20 December 2020 from his residence in Kolfe Keranio sub-city in Addis Abeba. Tola described his arrest as scary as Federal Police, Oromia Police, Oromia Special Force and Addis Abeba Police raided his residence early in the morning.

Tola said, “They surrounded my residence around 6:00 AM local time. They broke into my bedroom while I was asleep. I woke up in shock and asked what it was and they started beating me,” adding, “then they searched for what they wanted and took every electronic device they could find.”

According to Tola during the search and arrest, he was threatened at gunpoint and given no explanation as to why the house is raided nor did they present any court document. According to Tola, the only explanation offered to him were in the form of accusations of being a member of the outlawed Oromo Liberation Army and funded by the then-rebel Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), before ending up in Burayu Police station just like Dibaba.

Tola says that his official charge was collaborating with OLF. These charges were brought against him in the Burayu District Court eight days after his arrest in clear violation of his constitutional right to be presented to a court of law within 48 hours of his arrest. The court granted the police 14 days for investigation.

Tola spent 57 days going back and forth between the district court and the police station. “On 22 February 2021 the Burayu District court closed the file and acquitted me on the ground of insufficient evidence. However, the police kept me in custody despite the court’s decision,” said Tola.

Dibaba on the other hand never had a day in court. He recalled, “I was never brought to court. Once, during my detention at the Police Headquarters in Galan, and for the first time after 4 months of my detention there, investigators from the Oromia Police Commission called me to their office and told me that they wanted to take me to court. They told me that I am suspected of declaring the National Transition Government of the Oromia Region, that I had made speeches on Media and that I had incited people against the government. But they didn’t come back to me after that and they didn’t bring me to Court either.”

Tola filed an appeal a month and 15 days after being acquitted. However, the court didn’t review his case stating “the district court could not review his case”. Due to the failure by the courts of law to uphold their decision of acquittal, he was transferred to another prison.

In the EHRC report released last May, the commission said it has witnessed some of the prisoners in the makeshift prisons were released on bail, others their cases were closed and they were released by court order. While some have no charges filed against them at all, this was confirmed by regional prosecutor.

The two witnesses were held in four prisons during their detention period. They were both held at Burayu Police Station, Awash Malkaasa, Galaan Police Station and Galan Sololiya Military Camp. The witnesses say the process of transfer from one prison to another is not legal, it was rather in the form of kidnapping and disappearance as it was the case for OLF leader colonel Gemechu Ayana.

Dibaba was taken to Awash Malkasa with 400 other prisoners on the afternoon of 28 May 2021, after being detained at the Burayu Police Headquarters for about a month, where he shared a room with 168 others.