Case management is not systematized in the region, nor are data disaggregated by gender, age, disability, disposition etc.
The data show civil cases dominate the courts: 444,000 in the regular courts and 12,000 in the Sharia courts.
Criminal cases (127,000) constitute 28% of the courts’ caseload.
The data show some disparity between cases investigated by police and received by OAG but the overall volume is consistent under 50,000.
Nothing explains from where the 103,000 new cases in Woreda Courts, nor 20,000 in the Zonal Courts, come.
Court dispositions are not known (ie the number convicted, acquitted, or settled), but the prison data shows only 10% of the standing population are unsentenced. While data are not available from the PD, it can be assumed (from experience elsewhere) that representation of accused in court at trial will be low. The one NGO (EWLA) and ULCs are unable to fill the gap in justice services, so most of those sentenced, it can be inferred, will not have been defended by a lawyer.
The percentage of women in the criminal justice system shows nothing out of the ordinary.
POLICE: The 8166 cases pending are all attributable to cases awaiting forensic test results. While the case management data do not differ significantly from the figures recorded in the Annual report, the difference in number of arrests is significant (the AR records: 54649).
There is no central research unit holding data on case management. The research team found the data to be ‘scattered’ among several police departments (including the crime investigation office).
OAG: OAG case data are incomplete – as can be seen in the Data Notes.
OPD: There are no data on cases managed by the OPD. The interview states There is no reporting system between PD office to Zonal High courts to Regional Supreme court, because the PD office in the region is not organized as an independent office but rather as part of the ordinary court system: the OPD has no independent budget, it shares all resources and facilities with the courts.
LASP: The case management data show a mean of 7 cases per office per month (773 cases divided by 9 offices divided by 12 months) – 66% of these cases are reported to be disposed of by way of advice and counsel.
ULC: As concerns the caseload, the data show that the 1889 cases registered by the ULCs were all disposed of in the year. The majority (1113) disposed of by way of advice and counsel (ie 59%).
COURTS: The disposed cases by each level of court correspond with the ‘decided cases’ listed by court in the Annual Report 2013. The AR places emphasis on court efficiency noting the number of cases decided within 30 days, 1-2 months, 2-6 months, 6-12 months, 1-3 years and over 3 years.
PRISONS: Case figures in prison (extracted from the AR 2013 and translated into English from the Amharic)
| male | female | total | |
| Newly admitted inmates during the fiscal year | 31,767 | 766 | 32,533 |
| Prisoners released during the fiscal year | 25,184 | 574 | 25,758 |
| imprisoned after court’s decision | 15,098 | 272 | 15,370 |
| imprisoned in Regular adjournment | 2,955 | 75 | 3,930 |
| youth inmates | 9,969 | 159 | 10,238 |
| imprisoned in timely adjournment | 1,699 | 56 | 1,755 |
| Frequent inmates | 823 | 3 | 826 |
| Information about children with their parents in prison | 52 | 52 | 104 |
Those in highlight may include typographical errors. The first totals 3030, the second 10128.
The case data in the table above show that the number of admissions far exceeds the number of releases for the year. This would indicate a growing prison population year on year.
The case data shown in the visual reveal 45% of the sentenced population are serving less than 3 years imprisonment, which suggests they are convicted of crimes at the lower end of the criminal scale.
POLICE
All the cases pending at the beginning of the year are awaiting forensic analysis.
For the number of arrested persons, the Police Annual Report 2013 records 54649 persons arrested (including: 2760 women – 5%)
For police files sent to the OAG, the Annual report 2013 records: 33334 files.
OAG
Cases from Police: police record 34,922 sent to OAG.
Data here include civil and criminal cases + previous year cases sent back to police for further enquiry.”
Case disaggregation: some Zones disaggregate their case data by gender and age. Others do not. Total figures (disaggregated by gender and age) were not available.
For example, the count for charges filed against men in West Gondar, Central Gondar and Oromo: 9943
Charges filed against women: 1221 West Gondar, Central Gondar and Oromo
Charges filed againts young persons under 18 in West Gondar: 150
GBV charges filed in North Gondar, West Gondar, Central Gondar, South Gondar, South Wollo, North Shewa and Oromo: 936
The number of men convicted in W Gondar, C Gondar, S Gondar and S.Wollo: 21854
The number of women convicted in W Gondar, C Gondar, S Gondar and S Wollo: 3017
The total number convicted of GBV in N, S and C Gondar and Oromo: 459
The total number convicted under 18 in W and S Gondar and S Wollo: 193
The total number of men who settled in N Gondar, W Gojam and S Wollo: 174
The total number of women who settled in W Gojam and S Wollo: 73
The number of young persons under 18 who settled in S Gondar: 34
The number of men who were acquitted in S and W Gondar and S Wollo: 61
The number of women who were acquitted in W Gondar: 2
The number of young persons under 18 who were acquitted in N, W and S Gondar: 15
The number of cases withdrawn (men) in N and W Gondar and S Wollo: 96
The number of cases withdrawn (women) in W and C Gondar and S Wollo: 394
The total number pending in W, C and S Gondar, S Wollo and Oromo: 3130
The total number of indigent accused represented by Prosecutors in S,W,C Gondar, S Gojam and W Wollo: 1819 (ie 5 out of 12 Zones)
COURTS
SC cases pending end year – Data mismatch: total cases pending + new – disposed = 8101
HC cases pending end year – Data anomaly: increase in numbers explained as due to the backlog in 2012 E.C and also cases closed in 2012 but reopened by the request of the parties in 2013
FIC (Woreda Courts) cases disposed – Data anomaly: the high number of disposals is attributed to the addition of reopened cases which were closed in 2012 E.C and the backlog from 2012 E.C
Cases carried forward (criminal and civil): 32943
OPD
There is no reporting system between PD office to Zonal High courts to Regional Supreme court, because the PD office in the region is not organized as an independent office but rather as part of the ordinary court system: the OPD has no independent budget, it shares all resources and facilities with the courts.
LASP (EWLA)
Cases disposed: Data mismatch: the total disposed by mediation, referral to court or by advice (797) is inconsistent with the total pending + new cases (773).
ULC
Cases pending Data Mismatch: pending + new cases minus cases disposed leaves 769 files unaccounted for.
Legal Aid Awareness promoted through television channels. No data available on number of households reached.
PRISONS
Regional Prison Administration state 65 out of the total regional population (20,238) suffer mental illness.
No figure for the total holding capacity of prisons in the region was available.
Source of data for total admissions and releases, Prisons Annual Report 2013:
total Admissions for the fiscal year: 32533 (including 766 women – 2.3%)
total Releases: 25758 (including 574 women – 2.2%)
The Annual report provides a total: 10,238 ‘youth inmates’ (male: 9969; female: 159 – note internal data mismatch (these total 10128)).
It is unclear what age category is defined by ‘youth’.
Sentenced prisoners: the prison administration informed the research team that the total number of sentenced prisoners is not available, yet provide a breakdown (men, women, boys and girls) totaling: 16344.
These, added to the total remand (1622), total: 17966 and not the 20,238 total population given to the team and is 17966 is given here. There was no explanation.
SHARIA COURTS
Data anomalies attributable to the ‘reopening of closed files’
CIVIL COURTS
Cases carried forward are not disaggregated by civil or criminal caseloads. Data for combined criminal and civil cases are as follows:
FIC: 32943
HC: 11629