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6 Afr. Hum. Rts. L.J. 64 (2006)
Apology and Trials: The Case of the Red Terror Trials in Ethiopia

handle is hein.journals/afrhurlj6 and id is 74 raw text is: AFRICAN HUMAN RIGHTS LAW JOURNAL Apology and trials: The case of the Red Terror trials in Ethiopia Girmachew Alemu Aneme* Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia; Research Fellow, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Oslo, Norway Summary The Red Terror was a campaign of terror by the military government (Derg) that ruled Ethiopia from 1974 to 1991. The Derg era was characterised by massive human rights violations, including crimes against humanity. The Red Terror trials are the prosecutions of the Derg officials who are suspected of committing mass human rights violations. The trials are unique in the sense that they have largely taken place in Ethiopia, with local impetus and without the involvement of the international community, as was the case in Rwanda, Sierra Leone or the former Yugoslavia. The author argues in favour of retributive justice, making the prosecution of mass human rights viola- tions the duty of the state. In this regard, the author provides the major arguments in favour of the prosecution of human rights violations. The article also examines the major problems in prosecuting human rights vio- lations in general, and the problems presented by the Red Terror trials in particular. However, the author also argues that the recent request on the part of the Derg officials to make a public apology to the Ethiopian people needs to be part of the remedial process. It is argued that apology should be part of the acceptance of responsibility and accountability for mass human rights violations (as retributive justice demands) and not necessarily as part of an incipient strategy of amnesty. 1 Introduction: Background to the 'Red Terror' While the pre-1974 Ethiopia experienced different human rights viola- tions, the most severe human rights violations in the country's recent * LLB (Addis Ababa), MA (Oslo); g.a.aneme@student.jus.uio.no. The author would like to thank Prof Richard A Wilson, Director of the Human Rights Institute at the Dodds Research Centre, University of Connecticut, USA, for his constructive comments on an earlier version of this paper.

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