26. The Complainant contends that the Complaint should be declared admissible by the African Commission in conformity with Article 50 of the African Charter. 27. The Respondent State for its part, argues that the complaint should be declared inadmissible since the matter at issue is still pending before the courts in Benin and if need be, the concerned parties shall have the possibility of appealing after the Court of Appeal's ruling to which the Supreme Court's judicial chamber had referred the case in April 2003. 28. This argument, posited by the Respondent State in its statement of case of the 13th November 2003, was reaffirmed by its delegate at the hearing granted by the African Commission during its 35th Ordinary Session in May/June 2004. 29. Whilst the Respondent State contends that the complaint is still pending before the local courts, the Complainant has not answered the fundamental question which is whether local remedies have been exhausted in this particular case. 30. Since the Complainant has not proven, contrary to the claims of the Respondent State, that the case has been settled by the Benin courts and that local remedies have been exhausted, the African Commission is compelled to accept the position of the Respondent State which contends that the case is still pending before the local courts. 31. Whereas the established jurisprudence of the African Commission, which is in conformity with the provisions of Article 56(5) of the African Charter, requires that the communications governed by Article 55 of the said Charter can only be examined after local remedies, if they exist, are exhausted, "unless it is clear to the Commission that the recourse to these remedies is unduly prolonged". 32. Such a position which is also contained in the established precedents of other human rights institutions is based on the principle that the Respondent State should first of all have the means of rectifying, through its own means and within the framework of its own national legal system, the alleged violation by future Complainants. Decision of the African Commission On these grounds, the African Commission declares the communication inadmissible for non-exhaustion of all local remedies. 1 Que Choisir Benin is an NGO based in Benin and has had Observer Status with the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights ('African Commission') since May 2001, 29th Ordinary Session. 2 Benin ratified the African Charter on 20th January 1986. 3