State neglects to protect the rights in the Charter, this can constitute a violation of Article 1, even if the State or its agents are not the immediate cause of the violation. 131. The Complainants further submit that by failing to respect the Victims right to a fair and speedy trial guaranteed in Article 7 of the African Charter, the Respondent State is similarly in violation of Articles 1 and 2 of the Charter as a violation. Alleged Violation of Article 7(1)(b) – right to have ones cause heard. Article 7(1)(b) of the African Charter states: (b) the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty by a competent court or tribunal; 132. The Complainants argue that the Respondent State has violated the rights of the former Dergue officials to be presumed innocent until proved guilty by a competent court or tribunal. The Complainants state that the presumption of innocence is universally recognized23 and proclaimed by all major legal systems of the world.24 They stated that the Respondent State violated the right to be presumed innocent enshrined in Article 7 (1) (b) of the Charter in the following ways: a. Proclamation No. 22/1992 which provides for the establishment of the special prosecutors office violates the right to be presumed innocent as guaranteed in Article 7(1)(b) of the African Charter. Proclamation No. 22/1992 provides, inter alia, as follows: WHEREAS the people of Ethiopia have been deprived of their personal human and political rights and subjected to gross oppression under the yoke of the fascistic rules of the Dergue-WPE regime for the last seventeen years; WHEREAS heinous and horrendous criminals which occupy a special chapter in the history of the peoples of Ethiopia have been perpetrated against the people of Ethiopia by officials, members and auxiliaries of the security and armed forces of the Dergue-WPE regime; WHEREAS officials and auxiliaries of the Dergue-WPE dictatorial regime impoverished the economy of the Country by plundering illegally confiscating and destroying the property of the people as well as misappropriating public and state property; WHEREAS it is the interest of a just historical obligation to record for posterity the brutal offences the embezzlement of property perpetrated 23 Communication No. 218/98, Civil Liberties Organisation, Legal Defence Centre, Legal Defence and Assistance Project/ Nigeria, as in n 26 above, paragraphs 40 -41. 24 See Antonio Cassese, as in n 24 above, page 390. See also UDHR, ACHR, ECHR and the Statutes of the ICTY (Article 21 (3), the ICTR (Article 20 (3), and the ICC (Article 66). 27