jurisdiction. Declarations and Guidelines of the African Commission on the right to legal aid are equally instructive in this matter. 170. In its case law, the Commission has indeed emphasized the importance of legal assistance. In Communication 231/99, Avocats Sans Frontieres (on behalf of Gaetan Bwampamye) vs. Burundi, "the Commission emphatically recalls that the right to legal assistance is a fundamental element of the right to fair trial. More so, where the interests of justice demand it. It holds the view that in the case under consideration, considering the gravity of the allegations brought against the accused and the nature of the penalty he faced, it was in the interest of justice for him to have 14 the benefit of the assistance of a lawyer at each stage of the case" . 171. This Court also draws inspiration from the jurisprudence of the Human Rights Committee on the interpretation and application of Article 14 (3) (d) of the ICCPR. This is with respect to Communication No. 377/89, Anthony Currie vs. Jamaica, whose circumstances are similar to those of the Applicants in the case before this Court, as both raised issues of compliance with constitutional guarantees of their rights to fair trial in their criminal trials and appeals. In its observations relating to this communication, the Human Rights Committee held that: "The author has claimed that the absence of legal aid for the purpose of filing a constitutional motion itself constitutes a violation of the Covenant. The Committee notes that the Covenant does not contain an express obligation as such for a State to provide legal aid for individuals in all cases but only, in accordance with article 14 (3) (d), in the determination of a criminal charge where the interests ofjustice so require '4 11 • See also African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights The Principles and Guidelmes on the Right Aid in the to Fair Trial and Legal Assistanc e In Africa (2003); The Lilongwe Declaration on Accessing Legal Criminal Justice m Africa (2006}. 49