According to a report by Oromia 11, on January 18th, Mr. Tariku Itinnaa was killed by members of the Oromia police in the West Wollega zone, Bojii district.
Mr. Tariku’s friends described him as a hard working individual and the breadwinner of his family. However, Mr. Tariku’s family told Oromia 11 that he had been forced to drop out of school in the past year due to harassment and intimidation, and that he had been in and out of jail in recent months due to his suspected connections to the OLA. On January 18th, at his family’s home, the Oromia police arrested him yet again.
Once under arrest, Mr. Tariku was beaten by the Oromia police in the presence of his family. The police then tied his hands and legs with a rope before searching his pockets, where they allegedly found bullets. He was then forced to lie down on the floor where they shot him several times in the chest. Although the police have claimed that they killed an armed member of the OLA, an unnamed family member has refuted this claim, and believes that the police planted evidence on Mr. Tariku before executing him. This family member also alleges that the Oromia police refused to hand over Tariku’s body for them in order to perform his burial for 24 hours, after the elders became involved.
International Law
Under international law, States are obligated to ensure that the State, or its agents, like police officers, do not violate the rights of its citizens. Multiple human rights treaties that Ethiopia is a party to uphold the right to life as a fundamental right, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Extrajudicial executions are a violation of the right to life, and involve the deliberate killing of an individual by a State agent outside of a legal framework. The right to life is also a non-derogable right, which means that killing of civilians by members of the Ethiopian government cannot be justified in the context of the current conflict, as States of Emergency cannot be used to justify extrajudicial executions.