Criminal
A 2015 penal code alongside a Special Court and indefinite detention without trial
Penal Code Proclamation 167/2015 replaced the 1991 transitional code and abolished the death penalty in law. A Special Court operating outside the ordinary judiciary tries cases without appeal, and incommunicado detention is extensively documented.
Key rules
- Jurisdiction — National. The Special Court sits outside the ordinary hierarchy; military courts handle national service matters.
Governing law
- Penal Code of Eritrea, Proclamation 167/2015
- Criminal Procedure Code, Proclamation 168/2015
- Proclamation 85/1996 establishing the Special Court
In practice
The 2015 Penal Code is, on its face, a modernisation: it abolished capital punishment, introduced a determinate sentencing framework and defined offences with more precision than the 1991 transitional code. It cannot be read as describing the criminal justice system. The Special Court, established in 1996 and staffed by military officers, tries corruption and political cases without defence counsel and without appeal. The UN Commission of Inquiry documented arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance, incommunicado detention without charge for years, torture, and the use of national service as forced labour, and concluded that crimes against humanity had been committed. Detention facilities include shipping containers and underground cells. There is no independent judiciary, no bar association able to act freely, and no published case law, so the code's provisions cannot be treated as the operative law.