Right of the Accused In Discontinued Cases for Absence of Witnesses In Ethiopian Criminal Proceedings: the Law and the Practice
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Date
2024-05
Authors
Henok Aregahegne
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Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Abstract
The Constitution of Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia under article 20 recognize the right of accused persons. The criminal case disposal procedure aims to enhance the efficiency of the criminal justice system while safeguarding the constitutionally and internationally recognized rights of accused. The prosecutor has the burden to prove the case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt. When witnesses for the prosecution or the defense are not present, Courts have discretion to adjourn the case where the interests of justice so require based on article 94/2/b/ of criminal procedure law. In practice, after repeated adjournments are given cases are discontinued for absence of prosecution witnesses and the court orders the prosecutor the right to resume proceedings when they get the witnesses which adversely affects the rights of the accused.
There is no clear provision that deal the extent article 94 and 95 of the cr.pro. code apply to deal with repeated adjournment. Thus compared to addressing the absence of witnesses by applying article 94 and 95 the courts approach is preferable. However, the courts approach has its own problem and inconsistent with the recognized rights of accused which has been exhaustively discussed in the paper.
In conducting this research, quantitative and qualitative research method has been used. In line with this methodology, the research mainly relies on the following sources of data. First, the researcher tries to examines existing laws and their provisions, articles, journals, and court decisions regarding the rights of accused in cases where proceedings are discontinued due to absence of witnesses. Second, based on information obtained through questionnaires from the concerned officials such as judges, public prosecutors, and lawyers and Cases reviewed, randomly selected discontinued cases for absence of witnesses from federal high court and first Instance court try to investigate and analysis of the practice as well as its effect on the rights of accused. Other countries laws and experiences are also reviewed for the purpose of analyzing the Ethiopian.
In conclusion the discontinuance of legal proceedings has far-reaching implications, affecting both the accused and the judicial system. Therefore, the research tries to analyze the legality of this mode of adjudicating criminal cases, impacts on the rights of accused and recommends enacting a law concerning absence of prosecution witness, dealing specific time within which a trial commences, and implementing a system of managing and tracking the court cases.
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Right of the Accused In Discontinued Cases for Absence