of res judicata, and on a further alternative plea, may it please the Court to declare that the Application is ill-founded. 23.That considering that the instant procedure is frivolous in nature and an abuse of court procedure, it requests, as a counter-claim, that the Applicant pay damages of a symbolic 1 CFA Franc to the Republic of Niger and CFA 500,000,000 (Five Hundred Million CFA Francs) as unrepeatable costs. 24.Hama Amadou responds in his Reply, received at the Registry of the Court on 1 August 2017, that the violations he submitted before the Court are: - Violation of his parliamentary immunity; - Violation of the principle presumption of innocence; - Political instigation of members of the parliamentary majority of the Bureau; - Violation of the right to effective remedy; - Violation of the right to return to one’s country; - The expired nature of the arrest warrant issued against him. 25.That it was in the light of these allegations that the Court must examine whether there is any relevance of res judicata as pleaded by the Republic of Niger. That the action brought before the Court by him is founded upon violation of the right to security, violation of the right to equality before the law, violation of the principle of nulla poena sine lege, violation of the principle of fair trial, and violation of the right to family life. 26.That the Honourable Court is competent to determine the case and that there is no re judicata. 27.In its Rejoinder dated 12 January 2018 received at the Registry of the Court on 15 January 2018, the Republic of Niger argues that the Reply lodged by Hama Amadou on 22 November 2017, after closure of the written procedure, and in violation of the provisions of Articles 37(2)(3) and 40(1)(2) of the Rules of Procedure of the Court, must be dismissed. Translator : E. Nkansah 8