JUNE 30/2003

Abera Yemaneab flew to Addis Abeba o December 16/1993 to take part in a Peace and Reconcilation Conference. He was arrested at the airport and imprisoned along with other delegates who were all subsequently released. A court ordered the immediate release of Abera Yemaneab but the EPRDF refused to heed the order of the legal court and has kept Abera in the central Kerchiele prison for the last ten years. The EPRDF has concocted false charges against Abera to justify this blatantly political and repressive action.

SOCEPP calls on the UN Human Rights Commission, which shall hold its second meeting of the year in August, to take up once again the case of Abera Yemaneab and to demand for his immediate release. Abera has been jailed not because of any crime he had committed but for the sole reason that he was a leading member of the opposition Coalition of Ethiopian Democratic Forces (COEDF), a coalition declared illegal by the ruling EPRDF. It is a well known fact that the EPRDF concocts charges (Red terror crimes, etc..) to punish its political opponents by keeping them behind bars for long years and dragging their cases through the courts. The Special Prosecutor's Office is thus used for political purposes and much of the independence that the judiciary should have had has been compromised. It should also be noted that countries whcih had backed the Peace and Reconciliation Conference initiative and promised that the EPRDF will not take any repressive action against its participants renged on their words and did not protest the illegal detention of Abera Yemaneab. Abera lived in the USA and was a recognized refugee. His long detention is a travesty of justice that should end soon.

SOCEPP