given the illegality of a rendition in abuse of process. Accordingly, the subsequent
detention and all that followed, are likewise illegal, because the origin of the whole
process was illegal. Consequently, the current detention of the Respondents, based on
those illegalities, is equally unlawful. As the detention is still ongoing, it has inevitably
become a continuing violation.
21. The Respondents asserted that a Reference or an Application cannot be lodged in
the Court until this illegal situation ends. They emphasized that this is the position in the
European Commission of Human Rights, in the Inter-American Court, and in the African
Human Rights Commission.
22. They based their above assertion on the various jurisprudence of those Judicial
Bodies which have permitted exceptions to the six month limit on instituting claims, and
have legitimized the principle of continuing violations. They added that the African
Human Rights Commission has gone so far as to distinguish between “instantaneous”`
acts and “continuing” violations.
23. The Respondents considered that as long as their detention continues, the “ two
month limit” to institute proceedings as provided for by the Treaty, could not run against
them. They prayed that the Court, under the first limb of Article 30 (2), hold that the
actions complained of are still extant and, therefore, time has not even started to run.
Therefore, the Court should make an exception to the time limit, and conclude that this
is the interpretation to be given to Article 30 (2) for cases of continuing detention. Such
interpretation would help to avoid the impunity of the continuing violations of the rights
of accused persons.
24. The Respondents concurred with the Court that nowhere in the EAC Treaty, nor in
the corpus of its related instruments, is the term “continuing violation”, or “continuing
breach” to be found. Notably, the term is also not found in any of the constitutive
instruments of the African, European or Inter-American Systems. Nonetheless, they
submitted that, despite this, and as is evidenced in the above jurisprudence, judicial and
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