--------------------------------------
-
50. It is noteworthy at this juncture that a complaint filed together with a
civil suit enables the victim to get associated with the conduct of the
procedure and that, in his capacity as a Party to the penal process has
the right to directly request the investigating judge to commence an
investigation.
51. In view of the foregoing, the Court holds in conclusion that referral to
the investigating judge is, in the Respondent's judicial system, an
effective and sufficient remedy which the Applicants could exercise to
obtain, or at least seek to obtain consideration of their complaint.
52. Having failed to exercise this remedy, the Applicants are not founded
in submitting that the proceedings have been unduly prolonged or that
this remedy has supposedly not resolved their problem.
53. In its previous judgments, the Court established that exhausting local
remedies is an exigency of international law and not a matter of
choice;
that it lies with the Applicant to take all such steps as are
necessary to exhaust or at least endeavor to exhaust local remedies;
and that it is not enough for the Applicant to question the effectiveness
of the State's local remedies on account of isolated incidents2.
54. In view of the foregoing, the Court finds that the Applicants have not
complied with the requirement of exhaustion of local remedies set
forth in Article 56 (5) of the Charter, and that, consequently, their
Application is inadmissible.
55. Having found that the Application is inadmissible for failure to exhaust
local remedies, the Court decides that the matter shall not be
examined on the merits.
2 Peter Joseph Chacha v. United Republic of Tanzania (Applj ation No 003/2012), Judgment of
28 March 2014, paragraphs 142,143 and 144.
11