WITNESS PROTECTION UNDER ETHIOPIAN LAW: JURISPRUDENCE, CONSTITUTIONALITY AND THE RIGHT TO CONFRONTATION

Abstract

The general objective of this thesis is seeks to address the rubbing between protecting the wellbeing of witnesses and protecting of accused right to confrontation in Ethiopia criminal justice system. Analysing the existing law of witness protection and the practice were the main theme of this study. The study covers relevant Ethiopian laws and jurisprudence practices in criminal proceedings and also reviews literatures; international covenants and jurisprudence and world classic jurisdiction are highlighting. The author‟s attempt to highlight the necessity and justification of effective witness protection measures, through enactment of a comprehensive law and independent institution on criminal justice dispensation. To this end, under umbrella of qualitative methodology both doctrinal and non- doctrinal legal research approaches have been employed. Both secondary and primary data were collected. Laws and jurisprudence practices via semi-structured interviews were done with 12 federal justice respondents as a primary source. To that end, thesis finding out the loopholes in the existing laws and huge practical gaps between the law and practices of Ethiopia on witness protection and respecting interests of the right to confrontation. It also rejects on why witness protection measures are important for effective functioning of criminal justice system. To that end, the research also found out Ethiopian criminal justice system has not been legitimate limitation grounds with standards of balancing mechanism anonymity witness protection and accused right to confrontation. Regarding the witness protection in Ethiopia, progress is achieved in improving legislation and establishing special program for implementation of witness protection, but still remain many challenges that Ethiopia justice institutions face such as international cooperation and national coordination between justice machineries. Based on these challenges, the researcher recommends for enacting comprehensive and amending of the existing laws on clear legal, procedural and institutional challenges for effective criminal justice system.