172. Whilst the above definition is useful, it fails to outline those categories of actions that would constitute a violation under Article 5 of the African Charter. To resolve this issue, the African Commission will in terms of Article 60 of the African Charter rely on the jurisprudence of the Human Rights Committee which has over the years, made a determination on whether the length of detention on death row amounted to a violation of the prohibition against 'torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment'.50 In Randolph Barrett and AC HP R Clyde v. Jamaica,51 the Human Rights Committee held that in the review of criminal convictions and sentences, an element of delay between the lawful imposition of a sentence of death and the exhaustion of available remedies is inherent in the review of the sentence; thus, even prolonged periods of detention under a severe custodial regime on death row cannot generally be considered to constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment if the convicted person is merely availing himself of appellate remedies. 173. The African Commission is of the view that the computation of time as far as the delays in executing the sentence is concern, will only start to run from the time the High Court passed the death sentence and not from when the victim was first arrested in 1993. The evidence before the African Commission indicates that the ensuing delay in carrying out the death sentence was because the victim had petitioned the Court of Appeal. The victim was partly responsible for these delays and was exercising his rights to appeal. For this reasons the African Commission finds that there is no violation of Article 5 in this regard. 174. It was submitted by the Complainants that failure to publish the unsuccessful outcome of the clemency petition and failure to give notice of the date and time of execution amounts to cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and 50 51 Under Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Communication 270/271/1988 (30 March 1992). 47

اختر الفقرة المستهدفة3

الاتصال بفقرة
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
أضف إلى جدول المحتويات