At the Zoba Maekel Court, I saw a young girl busily working with the files in front of her. She read a case and called the concerned ones; I was impressed by the way she handled cases and the decisions she gave. Then, I decided to interview her for Hidri magazine. Here is the translation of the interview:  

 

Could you introduce yourself?

 

My name is Tsiyon Habteslassie. I was born in Asmara in 1980. I am the 11^th child of the 13 siblings of whom nine are girls and four boys. All of us successfully attended our academic lessons; one of my sisters received a PHD, three have masters and three graduated with first degrees. Except for my deceased father and my martyred brother, we are all in a good state at the moment.

 

What was your childhood ambition?

 

Because my elder sisters had performed well in their studies, I was eager to follow their step. Our parents nurtured us carefully so as to achieve good results and grow up disciplined. Since they usually took us to the church on Sundays, I was eager to be polite when I grow up. Generally, I was considering studying sociology.

 

How was your educational performance then?

 

I attentively followed my teachers at the classroom and I always stood among the top ten. After taking the matriculation exam, I went to Sawa for the military training in 1999. Then I came back because I scored passing marks to the University of Asmara.

 

What did you studied at the university?

 

As I told you, my plan was to study sociology; but since the department was not at the University of Asmara at that time, I decided to study law believing that it is more or less related with the society. When I told my parents that I wanted to study law, they gave me full support. Since there was no one in the family who graduated in law, all of us loved it and I graduated with BA in the year 2005.

 

What did you feel during your graduation?

 

It was really difficult for me to graduate at in law while still young. The field of law requires more responsibility, patience and accountability. So, soon after my graduation I started to think about the challenges ahead of me; hearing different and complicated cases; punishing people; giving verdict, etc. Generally, I was so much worried because I was going to judge and correct people.

 

However, after my graduation, I worked at the Serejeca sub zone court for two years that gave me good work experience for my career as a lawyer.

 

What did you feel when you heard your first case?      

 

It is obvious that before you acquire the necessary work experience you feel panic. But, the more you develop work experience the more you become confident. Being a beginner it is important to receive advice from experienced colleagues. Since I established close contact with those who had good knowledge and experience in the profession, I was able to progress successfully. When you see the experienced lawyers hear cases and give judgement, you receive considerable knowledge.

 

In most courts the judges are old people and most of the time they are males. Being a young female how do people react to your decision?

 

To your surprise, sometimes while I was sitting to hear their cases, some people were heard to say that I wasn’t the judge. Since people don’t see young female judges, and I am slight as well, they would get confused when I give orders or start to hear cases. But our people do have a culture of respecting the law.

 

What was the first case you heard?

 

It was a quarrel between two women. Hearing their case, I was thinking of giving my decision and most of the people in the court were eagerly waiting to hear what I would say. When I advised them to solve their case peacefully, I heard many of them murmuring in agreement. Then the two women said that this little girl thinks better than we do, so why don’t we settle our case peacefully. And they did.

 

So, seeing the first case I took being solved successfully, I was encouraged.

 

I heard that you try to solve most of your cases in a peaceful way. Is that true?

 

If people agree to solve their differences peacefully, rather than going to court, it helps you establish a peaceful and harmonious society. For example, a woman and her husband are the pillars of a family and a family is the root of a society. So, by failing to bring these two together you would leave a big scar in the family—family breakdown—which seriously affects the children. Most of the time children who grow up in a broken family would definitely be involved in anti-social activities such as crime, theft, and the like. Then they would disturb the society; and at the absence of forgiveness in a society, it is hard to establish a secure environment. In a nut shell, unless the case is serious and that it needs legal ruling, I try to persuade people to solve their cases in a peaceful manner.

 

I think if the law didn’t encourage people to solve their cases peacefully, does it mean you take personal decision?

 

Although the judge is not authorised to push people to peacefully solve their cases, it is his right, identifying the social problem and crisis it could cause, to ask them to agree to solve their cases. We Eritreans, have a very rich and powerful traditional value of addressing differences among the people. So, I think it is wise to use such values in addressing legal issues. Law, apart from the social traditions and values, couldn’t reach its goal. Even if it did it would leave a scar in the society.

 

After all, law couldn’t stand apart from the beliefs, traditions and culture of a society. It is because of this is that the law is drafted considering the culture of societies. For example, religion considers theft, abuse, lie… as sinful; culture condemns these acts and law considers them as acts of crime.

 

Any of your cases that you remember you solved peacefully?

 

There was a dispute among a family. The wife and her children hit her husband. The man had minor injury. When I saw the case I understood that the woman and her children would be imprisoned for six months each for what they did. But, I didn’t want to see the husband separated so that I tried to explain the consequence that would follow to the family if a legal decision was taken. But since he didn’t accept my advice I made an appointment with him for the next day. Then, he came with a new idea and told me that he had accepted what I had told him. His decision saved the family’s breakdown.

 

How many cases do you hear in a day?

 

It depends. Some times we hear up to thirty cases. This is really large number, but if you arrive on time and devote your time to your work, you can accomplish it. If a judge does his work appropriately not only can he hear and give decision to many cases, but also he can accomplish a good job. So, it is a matter of devoting enough time to your profession.

 

Being a girl, how do you feel seeing or judging women’s cases?

 

It a legal issue we are talking about. So, there is nothing different in being a man or woman before the law. There are times, although you couldn’t help, being a judge, but you feel concerned when you see women being deceived due to lack of knowledge on their rights. What I could say is that women have to benefit from the rights and opportunities provided to them by the law.    

 

The best solution, I think, is introducing law lessons in the schools of the country. Women could defend their rights only when they are educated and acquire enough knowledge on the legal issues that concerns them. Women have to understand that they are equal to men before the law.

 

Most of the crimes are committed by the young. So, what did you feel, being young, to punish the youngsters?

 

The youth is exposed to different legal issues and most of the criminal cases are committed by them. So, you don’t feel good when you decide to arrest and punish the youth. Because he is going to spend years that he should have spent in school or at work in the prison. It is not a good thing, of course, to see them spend the critical years of their life in prison.  

 

Anything you may have to say?

 

Since the law helps us to establish a healthy and peaceful society, all the institutions in our country should work hard to develop the knowledge of the law in our society.        

 

Translated by A. Tesfay