unreasonable to require the Applicants to lodge a new application before
the domestic courts to seek relief for these claims.19 Local remedies should
thus be deemed to have been exhausted with respect to this allegation.
51. As a consequence, the Court dismisses the second limb of the Respondent
State’s objection on the failure to raise the violation of the right to legal
representation before domestic courts.
52. In light of the foregoing, and given that the issues raised in this Application
have been adjudicated by the Court of Appeal, as the highest judicial body
of the Respondent State, this Court dismisses the Respondent State’s
objections and finds that the Applicants have exhausted local remedies as
envisaged under Article 56(5) of the Charter and Rule 50(2)(e) of the Rules.
B. Objection based on failure to file the Application within a reasonable time
53. The Respondent State contends that the Application has not been filed
within a reasonable time given that the present Application was filed on 27
September 2017 while the Court of Appeal delivered its judgment on 5
November 2009. The Respondent State further submits that it deposited its
Declaration on 29 March 2010 and therefore a period of seven (7) years and
five (5) months had elapsed when the present Application was filed. The
Respondent State prays the Court to find that such period does not fall
within the parameters of reasonable time.
54. On their part, the Applicants submit that this Application was filed nearly
eight (8) years after exhausting local remedies due to the fact that the
existence of the Court was unknown to the prisoners at Uyui Central Prison
at Tabora, themselves included, before May 2017. The Applicants aver that
the first Application to be lodged before the Court from Uyui Central Prison
is Abdallah Sospeter Mabomba and Others v. Tanzania which was filed on
19
Mussa and Mangaya v. Tanzania (merits and reparations), supra, § 37; Thomas v. Tanzania (merits),
supra, §§ 60-65 and Wanjara and Others v. Tanzania (judgment), ibid, § 45.
14