6 |
P age b
Art. 424:- uses of improper methods.
1
/ Any public servant charged with the arrest, custody, supervision, escort or interrogation of a person who is under suspicion, under arrest, summoned to appear before a court of justice, detained or serving sentence, who, in the performance of his duties, improperly induces or gives a promise, threatens or treats the person concerned in an improper or brutal manner, or in a manner which is incompatible with human dignity or his office, especially by the use of blows, cruelty or physical or mental torture,
be it to obtain a statement or a confession, or to any other similar ends, or to make him give a testimony in favorable manner is punishable with simple imprisonment or fine, or, in serious cases, with rigorous imprisonment not exceeding ten years and fine. The criminal law banning torture, however, does not provide a clear definition for the term torture. On the other hand, in real life the prevalence of torture in Ethiopia is repeatedly reported by international reports and the country criticized by international bodies for impunity of perpetrators of torture.
34
Recently, even high ranking government officials confess the prevalence of torture in the country against suspect and inmates.
35
Although there are researches (see below section 1.3) regarding torture those researchers did not address the issue of criminalization and prosecution of torture under Ethiopian law and practice in light with international laws and practice. For this reason, this thesis examines criminalization and prosecution of torture in Ethiopia in light with the nature and scope of torture under international law. torture against wounded, sick or shipwrecked persons or medical services, and prisoners and interned persons as war crimes, respectively. CAT, Concluding Observation on Ethiopia, CAT/C/ETH/CO/1, 20 Jan 2011, Paras 10- 11; Amnesty international world report, January 2018. Available at <
https://www.hrw.org/worldreport/2018/country-chapters/ethiopia
> accessed on 2 March 2019); HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL
– HRCO (Ethiopia, 142nd Special Report Human
Rights Violations Committed During the State of Emergency in Ethiopia Executive Summary
6
– 11 (May 28,
2017), <
https://ehrco.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/HRCO-142nd-Special-Report-English-Executive-summary-
2.pdf
> (the full report is available in Amharic at <
https://ehrco.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/
የሰብዓዊ-መብቶች-
ጉባዔ-142ኛ-ልዩ-መግለጫ-ግንቦት-2009-ዓ%E3%80%82ም.pdf>
) (accessed on 7 April 2019); Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia, „Ethiopian Political Prisoners and Their Accounts of Torture (February 2018). Available at
<
https://ahrethio.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Ethiopian-prisoner-and-their-accounts-of-torture.rep2018.pdf
> accessed on 7 April, 2019); Human Rights Watch, World Report (2018). Available at
<
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2018/country-chapters/ethiopia
> (accessed on April 2019).
35
Amhara Mass Media documentary film, “
የፍትህ ሰቆቃ” part I and II. Available at
<
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JKZs7Kk3CY&list=WL&index=3&t=0s
> and
<
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c48h55XR3ns&list=WL&index=1
>; see also ETV news available at
<
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BCBbqIOsdqk
> (accessed on 20 May 2019)
|
