- Birtukan Mideksa
Birtukan Mideksa (also spelled Birtukan Midekssa) is an
Ethiopia n politician and former judge. She is the leader of the oppositionUnity for Democracy and Justice party. [" [http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article27594 Ethiopian political forces form new party] ", "Sudan Tribune",June 20 2008 . Retrieved on2008-07-14 .]Her name is Birtukan, whose English equivalent is "orange." Recently a poet nuanced in her name that the struggle for democracy throughout Ethiopia would exude the good smell of an "orange."Source needed|date=July 2008
Early life
Birtukan Mideksa went to Yekatit 12 secondary school (aka Menen) and upon graduating from high school she joined AAU where she graduated from Law School with a Bachelors Degree in Law. She practiced law at the 3rd district of the federal judiciary.
Career
While she was working for the federal judiciary, Mideksa was appointed to be a judge at the 3rd district court of the court. During that time, she presided over a high profile case of the former defense minister and top ranking official of
TPLF ,Siye Abraha . She set the defendant free on bail just to be surprised by the government authorities arrested him minutes later while he was walking out of the court accompanied by his family and friends. Later on, she got several warnings and threats from government security agents which proved her clearly that independence of the judiciary is only on papers.Politics
Later, Britukan decided to join a political party to bring about a fast change in the country, including superiority of the rule of law, and a full respect and implementation of the constitution which proved first hand not in place while serving as a judge. She joined RAINBOW party and later CUDP after a coalition of four parties. After election or 2005, her party won, and the governing party started to round opposition party leaders (including Birtukan). They spent two years in prison and were freed in late 2007.Eric Lipton; Russ Buettner. " [http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/04/africa/ethiopia.php Giuliani's firm lobbied for bill considered threat] ", "
The International Herald Tribune ",December 4 2007 . Retrieved on2008-07-14 .] She later founded UDJ (Unity for Democracy and Justice ) with the same principles followed by CUDP. The need for having the new party name came from the fact that the ruling party's election commission awarded to a splinter group from CUDP (akaKinijit ). Birtukan is elected to be a chairperson of the UDJ party which has a motto of bring about change in Ethiopia in a peaceful means.References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
