Legal Lacunae of Presumption of Innocence Right Protection in Ethiopia

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.