The ICJ has been informed by the Ethiopian Minister of Justice that an open trial of those charged with complicity in the abortive coup of December, 1960, was to begin on Monday, February 27, 1961, in Addis Ababa.
With the agreement and cooperation of the Ethiopian Authorities, the Commission has requested Professor Edvard Hambro to act as its observer at the trial. Professor Hambro arrived in Addis Ababa on the morning of March 1.
Mr. Hambro, Professor of Law in Bergen, Norway, was formerly Registrar of the International Court of Justice and has represented the Commission upon various occasions, particularly at the South African Treason Trials in 1958.
The International Commission of Jurists is a non-governmental and non-political organization which has Consultative Status, Category “B”, with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Its main objective is – through practical action – to clarify, promote and defend the Rule of Law, to strengthen the legal procedures and institutions associated therewith in those countries where the Rule of Law is already established and to obtain its acceptance wherever it is denied. Among its latest undertakings was the organization of an African Conference on the Rule of Law held in January, 1961, in Lagos, Nigeria, where 194 jurists met to discuss topics relating to the administration of justice and fundamental rights in Africa.
