Interviews with Birtukan Midekssa

If you look into my image within the public, even before I joined up the political party, you know, I was known for defying, you know, the government. People knew me when I gave that decision with regards to the former defense minister, and that was considered as a brave measure. But for me, you know, it was part of the day-of-day obligation as a judge, but you know, it was not very common in our political tradition, you know. All the regimes are very effective in intimidating people and even in terrorizing people and in making that terror part of our, you know, social psyche, that, you know, whenever you try to express yourself, express your views, and whenever you try to be right to your principles, it’s – you are going to face a serious and severe consequence. And yeah, they were right, but you know, that was worth it for me. But that gave me, you know, very huge popularity, and people gave me respect for doing so. And so the moment I joined political parties and I had, you know, a good acceptance, even within the party members.

The state of political parties, especially opposition politics, was not just fear, which you find many young women like me. So there was, you know, huge excitement even within the leadership to see my decision. So immediately, people were even motivating, encouraging me to come to the forefront rather than being, you know, an ordinary member. So it didn’t take me long, you know. It took me even months to run for the second position in that major opposition party, and I was elected. But I didn’t serve that long. You know, after I was elected, I had to be imprisoned after two or three months, yeah.

Birtukan Midekssa is a former federal judge and leader of the pro-democracy opposition movement in Ethiopia.

Hailed as the Aung San Suu Kyi of her country, she was sentenced to life in prison in 2005 after her party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, won an unprecedented number of seats in parliamentary elections. After eighteen months in prison, she was pardoned in 2007 following a series of high-level negotiations. Upon her release, she founded the Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ) and was elected its first chairperson. In 2008, she was rearrested for allegedly having violated the terms of her pardon and remained in prison for almost two more years. In 2010, she was shortlisted for the European Parliament’s 2010 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Prior to entering politics, Ms. Midekssa served as a defense attorney and federal judge, rendering numerous court decisions in support of the rule of law and in defense of fundamental constitutional liberties. She drew the ire of the Ethiopian government when she presided as a judge in a high profile corruption case involving the former defense minister, Siye Abraha. Ms. Midekssa released Abraha for lack of evidence, but the government immediately rearrested him and sent him to jail for seven years. The government’s contempt for the rule of law helped motivate Birtukan Midekssa to become active in politics.

She was selected as a Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow for 2011-2012 at the National Endowment for Democracy and as a Scholar at Risk Fellow at the W.E.B. DuBois Institute at Harvard University for 2012 – 2013.