ETHIOPIA: VIDEO PHASE OF CUD TRIAL CONCLUDES

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