69. The Court notes that Article 7(1)(d) of the Charter provides that: "Every individual shall have the right to have his cause heard. This right comprises... the right to be tried within a reasonable time by an impartial court or tribunal.” 70. The Court recalls that, impartiality within the meaning of Article 7(1)(d) of the Charter must be understood as the absence of bias or prejudice in the consideration of a case in court.2” As such, bias cannot be presumed and must be irrefutably proven by the party alleging it.28 Similarly, the Court considers that it cannot accept allegations of a general nature which are not founded on concrete evidence?9. 71. With regard in particular to the influence alleged by the Applicant in his Application, the Court recalls that “the declarations of a single judge cannot be considered as sufficient to influence the opinion of the entire bench”. The Court further considers that “...the Applicant failed to illustrate how the judge’s remarks at the Ordinary Bench later influenced the decision of the Review Bench’.°° 72. Noting that in this case the Supreme Court was composed of a panel of three (3) judges, the Court considers that the mere fact that a judge sat in a previous case to which the Applicant was admittedly a party cannot suffice to influence the entire bench in another case. From the record, it is apparent that the Applicant made reference to enmity between two (2) judges but only explicitly mentioned Marie Josée Mukandamage. Judge In addition, he did not demonstrate how the simple presence of this judge and her role in the sitting influenced the decision of the other judges evidence in rendering to show the the alleged impugned decision. impartiality, Neither did he adduce especially because, any in light of the record, he did not request withdrawal of the Judge concerned even though the 21See Alfred Agbesi Woyome v. Republic of Ghana , AfCHPR, Application No. 001/2017. Judgment of 28/6/2019 (Merits and Reparations) § 126; Ingabire Victoire Umuhoza v. Rwanda (Merits) (2017) 2 AfCLR 165, §§ 103 and 104. 28 Alfred Agbesi Woyome v. Republic of Ghana, (Merits and Reparations), § 128. 28 See Alex Thomas v. United Republic of Tanzania (Merits) (2015) 1 AfCLR 465, § 124 30 See Alfred Agbesi Woyome v. Ghana (Merits and Reparations), § 131. 18