Habteab Yemane became a lawyer because he believed in a constitutional state, but his journey led him somewhere else entirely. Now living in Switzerland as a refugee, he explains how he became a judge in Eritrea’s high court – and how its dictatorship wields power. Yemane was a judge in Eritrea’s high court, but he never took the oath of office. No one ever did. Eritrea’s 1997 constitution remains unimplemented. “These are sound articles,” he says as he goes through the constitution’s text. “But unfortunately, they bear no relation to reality.” Yemane advocates for a democratic future for Eritrea, where he served as a judge for 16 years, though always on a “provisional basis”. After nearly 30 years, Eritrea’s constitution is still waiting to be enacted – and all judges are considered provisional. According to Yemane, it is this persistent state of legal uncertainty that allows the dictatorship to maintain control. Speaking to SWI swissinfo.ch in a church meeting room in Bern, he ...
