Addis Ababa’s City Sovereignty threatened by the new Draft Criminal Procedure and Evidence Law of Ethiopia
Posted: 14 July, 2021 Filed under: Marew Abebe | Tags: Addis Ababa, criminal procedure, Draft Criminal Procedure, Ethiopia, Ethiopian Federal Constitution, Evidence Law, Federal Architecture, Federal Constitution, federalism, Government Sovereignty, mono-ethnic group, Oromia, Oromia Regional State, Political Ecology, Sovereignty Leave a comment
Author: Marew Abebe
Lecturer of Federalism at Debark University, Debark, Ethiopia
This is a commentary on Article 25(3) of the Draft Criminal Procedure and Evidence Law (the Draft Law), which the Attorney General of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia distributed to stakeholders to solicit feedback. Article 25(3) of the Draft Law empowers courts of the state of Oromia (one of the ten regional states of Ethiopia) to exercise jurisdiction over some criminal matters that arise in one of the two self-administered city governments of Ethiopia, the capital city of the country Addis Ababa. This commentary explores whether Article 25(3) of the Draft Law is (in)compatible with the Ethiopian Federal Constitution, and concludes that granting jurisdiction to the courts of the state of Oromia over some cases arising in Addis Ababa is unconstitutional. The provision, if not omitted from the final version of the Draft Law, will pose great challenges to the Ethiopian federation.
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