34 |
P age b
Hence, the above analysis revealed that defense of necessity may justify torture in Ethiopia CC which defies international law prohibition. Nonetheless, recognize pain or suffering arising or incidental to a lawful sanction as an exception for the prohibition of torture under article 18 (1) of FDRE Constitution which is in conformity with international law.
3.3.
Impediments on Prosecuting and Sentencing Torture
As discussed under above (section 2.3) states are under obligation to repress violation of the right not to be subject to torture through investigating and prosecuting violations. However, those international laws, so far discussed above, which prohibit torture, do not provide a clear provisions that restrict state derogating from their obligation towards investigating and punishing violation of freedom from torture via legal impediments. Nevertheless, HRC recognized that the problem of impunity for these violations, a matter of sustained concern by the committee, may well bean important contributing element in the recurrence of the violations, and that states may not relief public officials or state agents who have committed criminal violations from personal responsibility, as has occurred with certain amnesties and prior legal immunities and indemnities‟.
161
Similarly, CAT held that
„… impediments which preclude or indicate unwillingness to provide prompt and fair prosecution and punishment of perpetrators of torture or ill-treatment violate the principle of non- derogability
‟.
162
3.3.1.
Amnesties
International laws do not include a legal definition of what constitutes an amnesty and pardon. Amnesties are legal measures that have the effect of prospectively barring criminal prosecution and, in some cases, civil action against certain individuals or categories of individuals in respect of specified criminal conduct committed before the amnesty‟s adoption, or retroactively nullifying legal liability previously established.
163
Amnesties do not prevent legal
161
HRC, GC No. 31, Para 18; see also HRC GC No. 20, Para 44. CAT, GC No. 2, Para 5.
163
OHCHR, Rule-of-Law Tools for Post-Conflict States, Amnesties, HR/PUB/09/1 (2009) 5. Available at
<
https://www.ohchr.org/documents/publications/amnesties_en.pdf
> (accessed on 18 April 2019); see also Blacks Law Dictionary, (8th ed. 2004) 92
–93 and 1144 define, amnesty as a forgetfulness, oblivion an intentional overlooking and is etymologically related to the Greek word for oblivion or not remembering. Contrastingly, a
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