No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
The Legal Characterization of Facts During the Red Terror in Ethiopia: Genocide, War Crimes, or Crimes Against Humanity?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2020
Abstract
Multiple countries have investigated and prosecuted the perpetrators of crimes committed during the Red Terror in Ethiopia. In bringing the perpetrators to account, each country adopted a unique approach, resulting in a variation in the situation’s legal characterization. The charges against the Red Terror perpetrators in the U.S. were based on violations of immigration laws, while the perpetrators in Ethiopia were charged and convicted of the crime of genocide. In contrast, one suspect, who had already been convicted of genocide by the Ethiopian High Court, has recently been convicted of war crimes by the Hague District Court, the Netherlands. The article investigates whether the Red Terror crimes constitute war crimes, genocide, or crimes against humanity. Accordingly, this analysis shows that while countries have used genocide or war crimes when prosecuting crimes perpetrated during the Red Terror, the best fit to the situation’s legal characterization would be crimes against humanity.
Abstracto
Varios países han investigado y enjuiciado a los autores de crímenes que se cometieron durante el Terror Rojo en Etiopía. Al hacer que los perpetradores rindan cuentas, cada país adoptó un enfoque único, lo que resultó en una variación en la caracterización legal de la situación. Los cargos contra los perpetradores del Terror Rojo en los EE. UU. Se basaron en violaciones de las leyes de inmigración, mientras que los perpetradores en Etiopía fueron acusados y condenados por el crimen de genocidio. En cambio, un sospechoso, que ya había sido condenado por genocidio por el Tribunal Superior de Etiopía, ha sido condenado recientemente por crímenes de guerra por el Tribunal de Distrito de La Haya, Países Bajos. El artículo investiga la cuestión de si los crímenes cometidos durante el Terror Rojo constituyen crímenes de guerra, genocidio o crímenes de lesa humanidad. En consecuencia, este análisis muestra que si bien los países han utilizado el genocidio o los crímenes de guerra al enjuiciar los crímenes perpetrados durante el terror rojo, lo que mejor se ajusta a la caracterización jurídica de la situación serían los crímenes de lesa humanidad.
Abstrait
Plusieurs pays ont enquêté et poursuivi les auteurs de crimes commis pendant la Terreur rouge en Éthiopie. Pour amener les auteurs à rendre des comptes, chaque pays a adopté une approche unique, entraînant une variation dans la qualification juridique de la situation. Les accusations portées contre les auteurs de la Terreur rouge aux États-Unis étaient fondées sur des violations des lois sur l’immigration, tandis que les auteurs en Éthiopie étaient inculpés et reconnus coupables du crime de génocide. En revanche, un suspect, qui avait déjà été condamné pour génocide par la Haute Cour éthiopienne, a récemment été condamné pour crimes de guerre par le tribunal de district de La Haye, aux Pays-Bas. L’article examine si les crimes de Terreur rouge constituent des crimes de guerre, un génocide ou des crimes contre l’humanité. En conséquence, cette analyse montre que si les pays ont utilisé des crimes de génocide ou de guerre pour poursuivre des crimes perpétrés pendant la terreur rouge, le mieux adapté à la qualification juridique de la situation serait les crimes contre l’humanité.
抽象
多个国家已繿调查并起诉了在埃塞俄比亚红色使怖期间犯下的罪行的肇事者。歿个国家在追究肇事者责任时，都采用了独特的方法，导致局势的法律特弿有所䶿㿌。在美国，对红色使怖袭击者的指控是基于轿㽿移民法的，而在埃塞俄比亚的肇事者则被指控犯有祿敿忭繿罪。相㽿，已繿由埃塞俄比亚高等法院判定犯有祿敿忭繿罪的一㽿嫌疑人最近被濷兰海牙地方法院判定犯有战争罪。本文调查了红色使怖罪行是㿦构憿战争罪，祿敿忭繿罪或㿱害人类罪。因此，这一分朿表明，尽管㿄国在起诉红色使怖期间所犯的罪行时曾犯有忭繿祿敿罪或战争罪，但最符㿈该国法律特弿的是㽿人类罪。
ملخص
قامت دول متعددة بالتحقيق مع مرتكبي الجرائم التي ارتكبت خلال الإرهاب الأحمر ي إثيوبيا ومحاكمتهم. عند محاسبة الجناة ، اعتمدت كل دولة نهجًا ريدًا أدى إلى تباين ي التوصي القانوني للوضع. استندت التهم الموجهة لمرتكبي الإرهاب الأحمر ي الولايات المتحدة إلى انتهاكات قوانين الهجرة ، بينما تم اتهام الجناة ي إثيوبيا وإدانتهم بارتكاب جريمة الإبادة الجماعية. ي المقابل ، أدين أحد المشتبه بهم ، الذي سبق إدانته بارتكاب جريمة الإبادة الجماعية من قبل المحكمة الإثيوبية العليا ، بارتكاب جرائم حرب من قبل محكمة مقاطعة لاهاي بهولندا. يبحث المقال ي مسألة ما إذا كانت الجرائم التي ارتكبت خلال الإرهاب الأحمر تشكل جرائم حرب أو إبادة جماعية أو جرائم ضد الإنسانية. وقًا لذلك ، يظهر هذا التحليل أنه ي حين أن الدول قد استخدمت الإبادة الجماعية أو جرائم الحرب عند مقاضاة الجرائم التي ارتكبت خلال الإرهاب الأحمر ، إن أضل ما يتناسب مع التوصي القانوني للوضع هو الجرائم ضد الإنسانية.
Keywords
- Type
- Article
- Information
- Copyright
- © International Society of Criminology 2020
References
Abbink, G. Jon. 1995. “The Impact of Violence: The Ethiopian ‘Red Terror’ as A Social Phenomenon.” Pp. 129–45 in Krieg und Frieden: Ethnologische Perspektiven, edited by Peter, J. Bräunlein and Lauser, Andrea. Bremen: Kea Edition.Google Scholar
Anbesse, Genet A. [2001] 1994 E.C. የሌተናንት ኮሎኔᆿ መንሥቱ ሃይለ ማርያᆿ ትቿታዎች. Addis Ababa: Kibru Publishers.Google Scholar
Aneme, Girmachew. A. 2009. “The Anatomy of Special Prosecutor v. Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam et al. (1994–2008).” International Journal of Ethiopian Studies 4(1&2):1–53.Google Scholar
Assimba. 2006. “Red Terror Memorial Page.” Retrieved September 27, 2018 (http://www.assimba.org/Memorial/index.html).Google Scholar
Bouwknegt, Thijs B. 2018. “Eshetu Alemu: ‘The Black Sheep of the Dergue’–Ethiopian War Crimes and Universal Jurisdiction in the Netherlands.” International Journal of Transitional Justice 12(3):549–59.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cullen, Anthony. 2010. The Concept of Non-International Armed Conflict in International Humanitarian Law. Vol. 66. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Waal, Alexander. 1991. Evil Days: Thirty Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia. New York: Human Rights Watch.Google Scholar
DW. 2017. “Quest to Extradite Ethiopia’s Dictator Mengistu as Mugabe Departs.” Retrieved November 20, 2019 (https://www.dw.com/en/quest-to-extradite-ethiopias-dictator-mengistu-as-mugabe-departs/a-41719005).Google Scholar
Dzirutwe, MacDonald. 2007. “Zimbabwe Says Will Not Extradite Ethiopia’s Mengistu.” Retrieved November 20, 2019 (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ethiopia-mengistu-zimbabwe/zimbabwe-says-wont-extradite-ethiopias-mengistu-idUSL1313429220061213).Google Scholar
Elster, Jon. 2004. Closing the Books: Transitional Justice in Historical Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geiss, Robin. 2009. “Armed Violence in Fragile States: Low-Intensity Conflicts, Spillover Conflicts, and Sporadic Law Enforcement Operations by Third Parties.” International Review of the Red Cross 91(873):127–42.Google Scholar
Haile-Mariam, Yacob. 1999. “The Quest for Justice and Reconciliation: The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the Ethiopian High Court.” Hastings International and Comparative Law Review 22(667):667–744.Google Scholar
Human Rights Watch. 1994. “Ethiopia: Reckoning Under the Law.” Human Rights Watch 6(1):1–55. Retrieved December 8, 2020 (https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/ethiopia94d.pdf).Google Scholar
Obradovic-Wochnik, Jelena. 2009. “Knowledge, Acknowledgement and Denial in Serbia’s Responses to The Srebrenica Massacre.” Journal of Contemporary European Studies 17(1):61–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ramet, Sabrina P. 2007. “The Denial Syndrome and Its Consequences: Serbian Political Culture Since 2000.” Communist and Post-Communist Studies 40(1):41–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, Darryl. 2014. “Crimes Against Humanity: A Better Policy on ‘Policy’.” In The Law and Practice of the International Criminal Court, edited by Carsten Stahn. Queen’s University Legal Research Paper No. 2015-022. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rodenhäuser, Tilman. 2018. Organizing Rebellion: Non-State Armed Groups Under International Humanitarian Law, Human Rights Law, and International Criminal Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, Roger W., Eric, Markusen, and Jay Lifton, Robert. 1995. “Professional Ethics and The Denial of Armenian Genocide.” Holocaust and Genocide Studies 9(1):1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tareke, Gebru. 2008. “The Red Terror in Ethiopia: A Historical Aberration.” Journal of Developing Societies 24(2):183–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tareke, Gebru. 2009. The Ethiopian Revolution: War in The Horn of Africa. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
National World, The. 2018. “Myanmar Army Chief Must be Prosecuted for Genocide Against Rohingya Muslims, UN Report Says.” Retrieved August 27, 2019 (https://www.thenational.ae/world/asia/myanmar-army-chief-must-be-prosecuted-for-genocide-against-rohingya-muslims-un-report-says-1.764122).Google Scholar
Tiba, Firew K. 2007. “The Mengistu Genocide Trial in Ethiopia.” Journal of International Criminal Justice 5(2):513–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tiruneh, Andargachew. 1993. The Ethiopian Revolution 1974–1987: A Transformation from an Aristocratic to a Totalitarian Autocracy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toggia, Pietro. 2012. “The Revolutionary Endgame of Political Power: The Genealogy Of ‘Red Terror’ in Ethiopia.” African Identities 10(3):265–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tola, Babile. 1989. To Kill a Generation: The Red Terror in Ethiopia. Washington, DC: Free Ethiopia Press.Google Scholar
Tronvoll, Kjetil, Schaefer, Charles, and Aneme, Girmachew Alemu. 2009. The Ethiopian Red Terror Trials: Transitional Justice Challenged. Woodbridge, Suffolk: James Currey Limited.Google Scholar
U.S. Attorney’s Office Colorado. 2012. “Denver Man who Immigrated from Ethiopia Indicted for ID Theft and Unlawful Procurement of Citizenship – Thought to be War Criminal.” Retrieved August 27, 2019 (https://www.justice.gov/archive/usao/co/news/2012/aug/8-31-12.html).Google Scholar
U.S. Attorney’s Office Eastern District of Virginia. 2018. “Alleged Human Rights Abuser Arrested for Naturalization Fraud.” Retrieved August 27, 2019 (https://www.justice.gov/usao-edva/pr/alleged-human-rights-abuser-arrested-naturalization-fraud).Google Scholar
Wiebel, Jacob. 2015. “Let the Red Terror Intensify: Political Violence, Governance and Society in Urban Ethiopia, 1976–78.” International Journal of African Historical Studies 48(1):13–30.Google Scholar
YouTube. 2016. “Mengistu Smashing a Bottle Filled with Red Ink.” Retrieved November 18, 2018 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2Gm3I7yfQI).Google Scholar
Zewde, Bahru. 2009. “The History of The Red Terror: Contexts and Consequences.” Pp. 17–32 in The Ethiopian Red Terror Trials: Transitional Justice Challenged, edited by Tronvoll, Kjetil, Kjetil, Charles Schaefer, and Aneme, Girmachew Alemu. Suffolk and Rochester, NY: James Currey and Boydell & Brewer.Google Scholar