Three out of four witnesses came – all police officers who had shown up on the scene of crime at the time. According to them, the victim of the hit and run accident was a man who had been drunk and fell on the road in central Addis. By the time the police officers came, no car was visible.

The three witnesses told the judge yesterday that the victim fell on the road prior to the car accident. The man had been so drunk that he lost balance and fell on the main road where he was lying when he was hit by a car. To avoid hitting the man would have been difficult for the car driver, one witness said.

To complicate matters, two out of the three policemen were unable to express themselves properly in the national language Amharic. It made their testimony hard to understand for the judge, the prosecution, defence and audience. The witnesses came from a region outside the capital, but no translator was available for them.

Other arrests
The next hearing will be on 4 June 2008. In the meantime, four journalists were arrested earlier this month, and were released again a few days later. All four work for a monthly entertainment magazine called Enku. The last issue of their magazine was dedicated to the singer Teddy Afro. However, before being able to sell any copies of the magazine the authorities seized them all.

In addition, a witness reported that a lady was reprimanded by the authorities for wearing a T-shirt with Teddy Afro on it. During the first hearing a few people were arrested for the same reason.

Back in 2005, the singer released Yasterserial – an album tackling religious, political and social issues in Ethiopia. ‘Yasterserial’ is also a song on the album which was banned from the airwaves, owned by the government authorities.

It is nowadays hard for the public not to consider the Teddy Afro case as that of someone framed by the authorities for speaking out. According to observers, it has made this trial a political one.