REQUEST FOR ADVISORY OPINION: PARDONED ETHIOPIAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L ADDIS ABABA 002738 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR CA/VO/L/A:J.GORSKY, CA/VO/L/C, CA/FO:J.STUFT, AF/E AND DRL: S.JOSEPH E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/06/2017 TAGS: CVIS PHUM KJUS KDEM PGOV ET SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR ADVISORY OPINION: PARDONED ETHIOPIAN OPPOSITION LEADER KIFLE TIGNEH REF: A. ADDIS ABABA 2635 ¶B. ADDIS ABABA 2284 ¶C. STATE 107869 ¶D. STATE 124477 Classified By: Acting Political/Economic Counselor Eric Wong. Reason 1.4 (d) ¶1. (C) ACTION REQUEST: Per 9FAM 40.21(a) N10 "Political Offenses," Post requests formal determination from CA/VO/L/A that the conviction of Kifle Tigneh constitutes "political offenses." This individual applied for an NIV on September ¶5. The applicant, a member of the Federal Parliament, is a leader of Ethiopia's largest opposition party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) and was accused, convicted, sentenced and pardoned for several crimes in a trial (refs A-D) deemed as entirely political by Post and many others in the international community. Post requests that these convictions not interfere with Kifle Tigneh's application, as they can be deemed as "obviously based on fabricated charges." Similar requests have been made for other CUD leaders and received favorable review from CA/VO/L/A (refs A-D). ¶2. (C) The applicant was among a larger group of 14 defendants convicted of "Outrages Against the Constitution." In Post's opinion, the evidence presented by the federal prosecution did not in any way prove that this applicant or any other defendants had any role in leading, organizing or taking part in the demonstrations of 2005, and the verdicts concluded what was an entirely political trial for the CUD leadership. As further evidence that the charges against and conviction of Kifle Tigneh were purely political, several of the prosecution's documents against Mr. Tigneh were identical to the prosecution's documentation against Hailu Shawel in a separate trial, including referring to the defendant as "Hailu Shawel," rather than "Kifleh Tigneh." ¶3. (C) INA 212(a)(2)(A)(i)(I) and (2)(B) exempts from the ineligibility provisions "purely political offenses." 22 CFR 40.21(a)(6) defines "purely political offenses" as including "offenses that resulted in convictions obviously based on fabricated charges or predicated upon repressive measures against racial, religious, or political minorities." Based on Post's determination that this charge was fabricated and based on repressive measures aimed at the CUD political leadership, Post requests that this conviction on purely political charges not interfere with this visa application as they can be deemed as "obviously based on fabricated charges." YAMAMOTO