available if there exists a mechanism(s) by which competent national organs examine
the substance and validity of a given complaint and, where the complaint is adjudged
valid, grant appropriate relief. For this purpose there must exist relevant substantive
and procedural laws, and competent institutions or organs and processes which a
complainant can access and utilise in practice without unjustifiable impediments.
49. Further, the remedy to be exhausted must be effective and sufficient.14 A remedy
is effective if it offers prospects of success and, upon success, the appropriate relief is
one that is capable of adequately and timely redressing the specific violation suffered.15
Remarkably, the effectiveness of a remedy does not depend on the certainty or
guarantee of a favourable outcome for the complainant.16 It is enough that the
complaint is arguable, in the sense that it is as susceptible to being adjudged valid as it
may be to be adjudged unmeritorious upon full examination of supporting and
vitiating evidence, and legal arguments. Furthermore, as observed in Đorđević v.
Croatia,17 in assessing effectiveness of a remedy, it is necessary to take into account, not
only the formal remedies available, but also the general legal and political context in
which they operate as well as the nature of the complaint and the personal
circumstances of a given complainant.
50. In the present Communication, it clearly is not the case of the Complainant that
local remedies are not available. To the contrary, the Complainants initially state that
they exhausted local remedies, which is only possible if such remedies are available in
the sense enunciated at paragraph 48 above. Indeed the facts stated at paragraphs 8 -11
and 29 above show that the first Complainant consecutively approached the Director of
the CSO Agency, the Board of the CSO Agency, the Federal High Court and ultimately
the Cassation Bench of the Federal Supreme Court. The Complainants do not allege that
there were impediments in those endeavours. The Cassation Bench of the Federal
Supreme Court is the final judicial authority of the Respondent State. Before the
domestic authorities, the first Complainant’s case was that the freezing of its bank
accounts was premature and unlawful in terms of the relevant law. Assuming the
domestic mechanism engaged by the first Complainant is the appropriate local remedy,
it is available and was clearly exhausted upon the decision of the Cassation Bench of the
Federal Supreme Court. The Respondent State does not contest this.
Communication 147/95, 149/96 - Sir Dawda K. Jawara v The Gambia (2000) ACHPR para. 31 & 32
Velásquez-Rodríguez v. Honduras (1988) IACtHR (Series C, No. 4) para.66
16 M.S.S v Belgium and Greece (2011) ECHR (Application No. 30696/09) para. 289
17 Đorđević v. Croatia, (2011) ECHR (App. No. 41526/10) para. 101
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