COMMUNICATION 301/O5 – Haregewoin Gabre-Selassie and IHRDA (on
behalf of former Dergue Officials/Ethiopia)
Summary of the Facts:
1. The present Communication was received at the Secretariat of the
African Commission (the Secretariat) on 16 November 2004. It is
submitted pursuant to Article 55 of the African Charter on Human and
Peoples‟ Rights (the African Charter or Charter). The Secretariat later
received a letter from the Institute for Human Rights and Development
in Africa (hereafter the IHRDA) dated 29th March 2006, whereby the
IHRDA sought to join as co-author of the Communication.
2. The Complaint is thus submitted by Haregewoin Gabre-Selassie and
IHRDA (the Complainants) on behalf of “the Dergue officials” (former
officials of the Mengistu regime in Ethiopia) who have been detained
by the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
(Respondent State) since 1991.
3. The Complainants alleged that following the overthrow of the former
Mengistu regime in Ethiopia (commonly referred to as the Dergue1
regime) by the Ethiopian People‟s Revolutionary Democratic Front
(EPRDF), in 1991, the Dergue officials surrendered to the new
government and they were arrested and detained on account of
collective responsibility for policies or abuses by the Dergue regime
rather than on an account of individual responsibility for particular
criminal offences. The Complainants submit that they have been in
detention since then.
4. The Complainants also claim that a year after their detention a new
legislation was enacted whereby the Special Public Prosecutor‟s Office
(SPO) was established and mandated to conduct “investigation and
bring to trial [Dergue officials] detainees, as well as those persons who
are responsible for having committed offences and are at large, both
within and [outside] the country”.
5. They submit that upon coming into force, the SPO Proclamation barred
and suspended the applicability of provisions concerning time
limitation of criminal action to proceedings instituted by the SPO
office; thereby giving the SPO the liberty to submit charges, evidence
1
Dergue means “Council or Committee” in Amharic and it is usually associated with the
Mengistu regime that toppled Haile-Sellasie‟ Monarchic regime in 1974, and ruled the country
from 1974-1991.
1