(And this is only the beginning. These defendants have so far been ordered to defend themselves against the first charge only. There are six remaining. There are also dozens of other defendants who await ruling.)
The defendants were brought in this morning at 10:20am. Considering the delay tactics of the past week, none of us were expecting the judges to get through the witness summary, let alone make a ruling. We were very wrong.
After the summary was read, there was a 10 minute break. Then the ruling was given: 23 defendants were ordered to defend themselves against the charge of treason. With his last word—before it was even clear that he had finished his sentence--Judge Adil turned abruptly and rushed out the back exit, with the other two following closely.
It was obvious that no one, least of all the defendants, expected such an outcome. The family members received the news with a mixture of anger, fatigue and sadness. “Ayzuachehu! Ayzuachehu!” rang out from both sides of the room as the prisoners, with their unwavering courage, tried to reassure their loved ones and encourage them to be strong. Court resumes tommorrow.
What was particularly striking about today’s session was the change in tone. Judge Adil far exceeded expectations with his particularlyly eloquent summary and prosecutor’s demeanor (reminding us all, that the defendants could, in fact, also be charged for conspiracy under Article 257 of the penal code, but would not be). This drastic change in vernacular (that began and ended with the reading of the ruling) seems more than a little odd; and the phrases and wording seemed a little too familiar…Call me crazy, but it actually sounded strikingly similar to Meles himself!
Perhaps it was.
A ferenji resident shares views on Ethiopian political and social issues.
8 comments:
obviously expected decision.
As the saying goes, " Evil triumphs when good people do nothing".
Thanks Lewit,
Today, I, for the first time questioned my stance over armed struggle. Although this could just be me biased with my grief. I hope I am right
Questioning the decision to be different from the yesterday's is like questioning the colour of the snow to be different from white.
It is normaly expected from EPRDF dominated court. But i am sorry for those judges who are thinking by thier stomach.
I have never believed in armed struggle. But now i am questioning my stand.
The CUD leadership had tried thier best in all constitutional means to resolve post 2005 election crisis assuming that the EPRDF government had been subject to the same rule of the game. But its response was violence and extra-constitution.
Now the nature of the stuggle depends on the response of EPRDF.
They should have played by the rules. I am expecting after sentencing Meles will pardon them. But it is a lesson for so called opposition. The Bravado to take over the government in a week evaporated less than a week. I strongly believe that the country is in path to law and order democracy. Thank you Melese Ethiopia's Saviour.
Law and order?! the last post was obviously someone's idea of a joke because I laughed out loud. While this butcher has exported his terrorism to mogadishu, we have seriously deluded people speaking of law and order. Go and express your infantile understandings of Government, "law" and "order" and "take over" elsewhere. Those of us interested in human rights, freedom and justice have no time to waste with anyone who considers meles a savior. Neither he, nor you, are worthy of being called Ethiopians.
Dear Lewit,
I was impressed by your ability to tell who is behind certain lines of reasoning. Like you, I immediately felt as if I was hearing Meles himself passing the judgment. Sometimes we all have that instinct, may be a bit more than instinct, that reveals a hidden secret or truth to us. Of course woyannes, bing atheist, wouldn't understand this, but I have no doubt that their cup of deception and lies has filled and is overflowing. It seems like their time is running out. How do I know that? Very easy. As much as dergue tried hard to hid the level of threat they were facing from the public, many people new that they wouldn't last too long. Some laymen publicly told people that "dergue is no more" as early as six months before they came down crumbling. So here is my prediction, based on what I heard and what my intuition is telling me through indicators such as the things happening in Somalia, woyanne will be out by force but only after a devastating....
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