170.In general, the Commission has considered arbitrary detention, to mean a
prolonged detention without trial. This position was held in Ouko v
Kenya 75 , where the Complainant was detained for ten (10) months without
trial. The same position was held in Free Legal Assistance Group and Others v.
Zaire 76 , where the Commission held that a detention for an indefinite
period of time was in violation of Article 6 of the African Charter.
Furthermore, the UN Human Rights Committee has also held a similar
position in Chambala v. Zambia 77, where it considered as arbitrary, a
detention for a period of twenty-two (22) months without any grounds of
detention.
171.Jn Constitutional Rights Project and Civil Liberities Organisation v. Nigeria 78,
the Commission held that where individuals have been detained without
charges being brought against them, constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of
their liberty and thus a violation of Article 6 of the African Charter. The
European Court of Human Rights has .also considered that the
unacknowledged detention of an individual c;onstitutes a total negation of
the fundamental guarantees enshrined in Article 5 of the Convention and
an extremely serious violation of this provision 79 . Moreover, failure to
record information such as the date and time 9f arrest, · the place of
detention and the reasons for detention must .be deemed incompatible,
inter alia, with the very purpose of Article 5 of the Convention80, as well as
with the requirement that detention be lawful within the meaning of the
Convention81 .
172.In line with the above reasoning, it is the Commission's view that
arresting the Victim without giving him any reasons for his arrest and
detaining him for a period .of 23 months without charge, constitutes
arbitrary arrest and detention in conh·avention to the above-mentioned
standards and principles laid down by the Commission, and thus, in
violation of Article 6 of the African Charter.
Alleged Violation of Article 7