WITNESS PROTECTION UNDER THE ETHIOPIAN LEGAL SYSTEM

Abstract

The ability of the criminal justice system to prosecute crimes of any kind largely depends on obtaining cooperation of victims and witnesses and witness protection in order to obtain important information and evidence about the commission of such criminal matters. This paper is mainly concerned with exploring what protection measures are available in Ethiopia, the eligibilities for someone to acquire the status of a protected witness through analysis of statutory legal provision and cases by the application of law or of reasoning, the study used primary sources such as international and national legal instruments, which are important for the protection of witness and secondary source of data. And finding the lack of the establishment of the institution of witness protection under the Ethiopian law. Since protection of witness is crucial in maintaining justice, Establishing a very specialized agency aimed at closely overseeing the implementation of the witness and whistleblowers and promoting awareness creation issues of such measures. Hence, witness protection is the back bone of the ciriminal justice system of our country as well as international arena. The last but not the least the paper also touches on the challenges the Ethiopian witness protection is facing