Lammi Benya was born in 1983, in Guto Wayu District, East Wallaga Zone of Oromia. He graduated with a BSc. from Bahir Dar University in 2006.
Lammi joined the Oromo Liberation Front in 2002. Since then, he has been subjected to multiple detentions and has languished in various Ethiopian prison centers both during the EPRDF regime and the current Ethiopian government.
OLLAA’s staff has been able to compile the following report with help from both OLF and secondary sources. In 2007, Lammi was charged with terrorism and originally sentenced to fifteen years of rigorous imprisonment, later reduced to five years. He was confined in Makelawi, Kality and Batu prison centers during the term of this sentence.
After his release from prison, Lammi lived in Europe, returning to Ethiopia in 2018 upon the OLF and Ethiopian government’s Eritrea agreement. On July 12, 2020, without benefit of a court order, federal police arbitrarily arrested him at his home, along with Dawit Abdeta. Lammi was charged with instigating chaos and disturbance and released on bail of 20,000 Ethiopian birr. The police subsequently changed the charge to that of terrorism. On December 24, 2020, the same Oromia Supreme Court acquitted him of that charge. The police, however, refused to release him, keeping him confined. On January 26, the Oromia Attorney General appealed to the Federal High Court. On July 2, 2021, the Federal High court once again acquitted Lammi by affirming the Oromia Supreme Court’s decision. Despite this acquittal, Lammi Benya remains imprisoned. He has been transferred to various military camps and police stations since the day of his arrest.
According to Lammii Gammachuu, Head of Public Relations for OLF, Lammi Benya has been detained in the following official and unofficial detention centers:
- 12/07/2020 – 16/08/2020 at 6 Kilo prison (unofficial)
- 16/08/2020-15/09/2020 at Sansusi prison facility
- 15/09/2020- 23/11/2020 at Dality detention center
- 23/11/2020 – 21/12/2020 returned to hidden detention center at 6 Kilo
- 21/12/2020 -04/02/2021 at Sebeta Hawas police office
- 04/02/2021 – 13/07/2021 at Modjo police office
- 13/07/2021- 27/07/2021 at Awash Melka Arm center
- 27/07/2021 – 30/07/2021 at Gelen City police department
- 30/07/2021 – the police took them back to Dire Sololiya army camp to hide them from EHRC
- 21/09/2021 – 08/02/2022 subjected to harassment and torture by police at Dire Sololiya arm camp
- 08/02/2022 – 18/04/2023 at Burayu City Police Department
- 18/04/2023 – 22/05/2023 at Dukem Town police department
- On 22/05/2023, once again they were taken back to Burayu City Police Department
Despite repeated acquittals by the Ethiopian courts of law, Lammi remains illegally detained by the Oromia Police Commission. Conditions within the prison are horrific. Lammi, held incommunicado for most of the time, is confined in difficult, unsanitary, and cramped conditions that expose him and other prisoners to both emotional trauma and various incurable diseases. Sources also report that he has been subjected to torture and other inhumane treatment. His family and friends are gravely concerned about his deteriorating health.
OLLLAA also reported on the extrajudicial killing of Hundaol Benya,Lammi’s younger brother, at the hands of the government’s security forces in Naqamte Town in June 2022.
International Law
International law protects citizens from arbitrary arrests and detentions, which are arrests and detentions that are not in accordance with the procedures established by law, and guarantees certain rights to those who have been detained, including to the due process of law.
The right of detained persons to access medical care has its basis in the right of all persons deprived of their liberty to be treated with humanity and respect to the inherent dignity of the person (ICCPR Article 10), as well as in Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which sets out that all persons have the right “to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.” In addition, the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (Nelson Mandela Rules) set out that States have a responsibility to provide health care for prisoners, and that “[P]risoners should enjoy the same standards of healthcare that are available in the community, and should have access to necessary health-care services free of charge without discrimination on the grounds of their legal status.” These rights are also protected under the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, to which Ethiopia is a party.