OLLAA has received a credible report from the family of Mesfin Birratu Adaba about his extrajudicial killing at the hands of Ethiopian security forces on October 8, 2020. Mr Mesfin Birratu was 60 years old, a respected elder and peace-maker, and a father of nine children: five boys and four girls.
Mr. Mesfin spent his entire life in the Alaku Doggoma village in Yubdo district, West Wollega zone. His family described Mr. Mesfin as a well-respected elder known for reconciling social conflicts, making peace in the community, and helping the needy. In this role, Mr. Mesfin would hear about the suffering and oppression other locals experienced at the hands of government security forces, and his family claims that this was why he faced countless threats, arrests, and beatings multiple times. Indeed, OLLAA learnt from his family that Mr Mesfin had just been released from a week-long detention shortly before his murder.
Mr. Mesfin Birratu was arrested from his home on the night of October 7, 2020. According to his family, government forces went to their house during the night, searched the property, and damaged the contents of the home. When they didn’t find anything illegal, they took Mr. Mesfin and arrested two of his brothers. After beating and torturing him all night under allegations of supporting and/or feeding the OLA and having illegal, hidden weapons, early in the morning of October 8, 2020, they took him out to the stage in front of the gathering of the community of Yubdo District at Alaku Doggoma village. The family says that as soon as he appeared on the stage, members of the Oromia Special Forces ordered Mr. Mesfin to look to one side. They then shot him from behind, killing him in front of the entire Yubdo District community. His brothers, who were arrested with Mr. Mesfin Birratu, were released a week after he was killed.
International Law
Article 6 of ICCPR, article 4 of ACHPR and article 15 of FDRE Constitution guarantee the protection of right to life. Arbitrary or extrajudicial executions involve the deliberate killing of individuals outside of any legal framework, and constitute a violation of the right to life.
International human rights law also contains a prohibition on torture, and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Torture has been defined under the Convention Against Torture as “any act by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity.”
By virtue of these international human rights laws and the Constitution, the Ethiopian government has the primary duty to respect and protect the rights of those who live under its jurisdiction, which includes the duty to hold the perpetrators of human rights violations accountable and brought to justice.