Abstract

The criminal justice system seeks to balance the search for the truth with procedural fairness. Because of this, the law imposes a legal burden on the state to protect public security and suspected individuals’ rights. Among individual rights that need protection is a presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Presumption of innocence is a basic right in the Ethiopian constitution and subsidiary laws in Ethiopia which requires the public prosecutor to prove each element constituting the crime beyond reasonable doubt. However, this right is facing violation in the Ethiopian criminal justice system. Thus, this article examines challenges to the presumption of innocence rights in Ethiopia’s criminal justice system. Doctrinal research method is used in the investigation process. The study found various subsidiary substantive and procedural laws, and practices violate the presumption of innocence rights. Among others, several criminal law clauses do not require the public prosecutor to provide proof but instead take certain elements of particular crimes as proven, the Criminal Justice Administration Policy presumption to transfer the burden of proof in certain major crimes to the defendant, and anti-corruption and the vagrancy control proclamation permits prolonged remand time which compromise and deprive the suspected right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. These laws shall be revised in a manner that protects the presumption of innocence rights.

中文翻译：

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埃塞俄比亚无罪推定权保护的法律空白

摘要

刑事司法系统力求在寻求真相与程序公正之间取得平衡。正因为如此，该法赋予国家保护公共安全和嫌疑人权利的法律责任。需要保护的个人权利之一是在被证明有罪之前推定无罪。无罪推定是埃塞俄比亚宪法和埃塞俄比亚附属法律中的一项基本权利，要求检察官在毫无合理怀疑的情况下证明构成犯罪的每一个要素。然而，这一权利在埃塞俄比亚刑事司法系统中面临侵犯。因此，本文探讨了埃塞俄比亚刑事司法系统中无罪推定权利面临的挑战。调查过程中采用理论研究方法。研究发现各种附属的实体法和程序法以及实践违反了无罪推定权。其中，一些刑法条款不要求检察官提供证据，而是将特定犯罪的某些要素视为已证明，刑事司法管理​​政策推定将某些重大犯罪的举证责任转移给被告人，以及反《腐败和流浪控制公告》允许延长还押时间，这损害并剥夺了嫌疑人在被证明有罪之前被推定无罪的权利。这些法律应以保护无罪推定权的方式进行修订。