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Tigray Global Advocacy
Group (TGAG) Demands the Trial of Abiy Ahmed and
Isaias Afeworki by the International Criminal
Court (ICC)
ICC/OTP
January 27, 2021
P.O. Box 1959
2500 CM
The Hague, Netherlands
Otp.informationdesk@icc-cpi.int.
We
members of the Tigray Global Advocacy Group (TGAG)
demand the trial of Abiy Ahmed, Prime Minister
of Ethiopia, and Isaias
Afeworki, President of Eritrea,
before the ICC for their
egregious violation of international law with
respect to genocide, crime against humanity, and
aggression. Our demand is based on substantive and
verifiable evidence of the crimes they have
committed, and as explained below we present the
physical and mental elements that can be easily
attributable to the two dictators.
We at
TGAG are aware that genocide was first recognized
as a crime against international law in 1946 by
the United Nations General Assembly (A/RES/96-1);
subsequently, it was codified as an independent
crime in the 1948 convention on the prevention and
punishment of the crime of genocide (the genocide
convention), and the convention has been ratified
by 149 states (as of January 2018).
We are
also aware that the above-mentioned UN convention
was reinforced by the Rome Statue of the ICC
(Article 6); moreover, the International Court of
Justice has acknowledged several times that ‘the
Convention embodies principles that are part of
general customary international law, and this, by
extension, implies that whether or not states have
ratified the Genocide Convention, they are all
bound as a matter of law by the principle that
genocide is a crime prohibited under international
law.
Following
the definition of genocide and the principles of
the Convention, thus, we hereby make some
explanatory enumerations with respect to the
crimes perpetrated by Abiy Ahmed and Isaias
Afeworki against the people of Tigray, in northern
Ethiopia:
The physical element:
a)
Killing in part or in whole members of the
Tigray families, extended families, and in some
instances an entire village (as happened in Mai
Cadra, where close to one thousand Tigray people
were slaughtered and hacked with machetes and
axes); similar crimes were committed by the
Eritrean troops and soldiers of the Ethiopian
Defense Forces (EDF) in Mariam Dinglat, near
Adigrat, where more than 200 people were killed,
and at the Aksum Church of Tsion where 750 members
of the congregation were massacred; also, at a
place called Edaga Arbi in Central Tigray, 48
priests were killed, not to mention the atrocities
and killings committed by the Amhara militia who
murdered pregnant women and beheaded young people
after they have identified them that they were
Tigrigna speakers, living adjacent to the Amhara
Regional State.
b)
Abiy Ahmed and Isaias Afeworki should be held
responsible for causing serious bodily and/or
mental harm to members of the Tigray people; there
are evidences on this, including some victims
whose necks and faces were slashed with bayonets;
women who were gang raped, and a significant
number of innocent people who were physically
assaulted.
c)
The Abiy-Isaias combined forces have
deliberately inflicted on the conditions of life
of the people of Tigray by destroying their homes,
villages, and harvested crops; while Eritrean
troops burn crops and loot and destroy factories
(such as the Adwa Textile), higher institutions of
learning (ex. Adigrat University) and
pharmaceutical industry (located at Adigrat),
Mekelle University (first bombarded by Ethiopian
Airforce and later looted by Eritrean troops);
edible oil factory, hotel, and church destroyed by
the combined Eritrean and Ethiopian forces in the
Shire area of Western Tigray; and recently, the
iconic and UNESCO heritage site of Abuna Aregawi
Debre Damo Monastery was shelled and destroyed by
Eritrean artillery and heavy guns. Adding insult
to injury, the United Arab Emirates’ drones have
targeted civilians in parts of Tigray and a place
called Work-Amba in the Tembien district where 84
people have lost their lives.
d)
We do not have evidence on the imposition of
measures intended to prevent births within the
Tigrayan communities, but we have evidence coming
from eyewitness accounts that some members of
Tigrayan families were forced at gun point to
sexually assault their own family members of the
opposite sex.
e)
There is also ample evidence on forcibly
transferring Tigrayan children suspected of either
being potential fighters or supporters of the
Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF); in some
cases, the children were abducted and have
disappeared and their whereabouts is unknown to
this day; following the declaration of war on
Tigray on November 4, 2020 by Abiy Ahmed, the
Amhara militia has abducted over 1000 Tigrayan
children and adults from Western Tigray,
specifically from Dansha, Tsegede, and we are not
sure whether these abductees are still alive or
not.
The
Mental Element: Per the Genocide Convention, “the intent to destroy, in whole or
in part a national, ethnical, racial, or religious
group” constitute the mental element; the
special intent or dolus specialis may be
difficult to prove, but as far as we are
concerned, and as stated on item ‘b’ above,
what matters is the fear and trauma that the
Tigrayan people have encountered is wide ranging
and immeasurable; in fact, it is highly probable
that a significant number of Tigrayans need
post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) clinical
treatment.
The
people of Tigray are victims of genocide, crime
against humanity, and aggression, and are
deliberately targeted by the Abiy Ahmed and Isaias
Afeworki military forces, and based on the
physical and mental evidences we have furnished
and the principles of the convention, the two
leaders of Ethiopia and Eritrea have committed
crime that is prohibited under international law,
and though Ethiopia and Eritrea are not members of
the ICC, Abiy and Isaias are responsible for their
heinous crimes and are bound as a matter of law.
Sincerely,
Tigray Global Advocacy Group (TGAG)
C/O tigray.advocate@yahoo.com
USA
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