000306
evidence on file shows that the Respondent State was aware of the
Commission's findings. ln any event, only the national judge, subject to a
denial of justice, may re-examine and validly adjudicate on the facts initially
placed on the file record of a case.
ll. Messers Werema's Application against Tanzania should be deemed
inadmissible for having been filed in an unreasonable time
o
12. An action can only be brought within an acceptable period of time, mindful of the
procedure and guaranteeing the rights of others. "Reasonable period of time"s
presupposes three dimensions, that is, the reasonable period of time to be respected
in domestic proceedings, the reasonable period of time within which the international
court must render its decision and, finally, the reasonable period of time that the
applicant must observe in submitting his application to the international judge6. lt is
the latter dimension that is at issue in the Werema case before this Court. ln the
same vein, the lnternational Court of Justice recognized a corpus of rules in its
Advisory Opinion on the Review of Judgment No. 158 of the United Nafions
Administrative Tribunal in 19737, which includes procedural rights, "the right of
access to an independent and impartial tribunal established by law, the right to
obtain a court decision within a reasonable time ... ". This is the line followed by the
Court and as expressed in Norbert Zongo v. Burkina Faso8, of which the famous
paragraph 121 states that the Court "appreciates the reasonableness of reasonable
time on a case-by-case basis" (A). This analysis leads to the conclusion that the
Messers Werema arrived late before the African Court and that their application does
not respect the fundamental principle of reasonable time (B).
A. An infringement of the fundamental principle of reasonable time
o
13. Desperate, the applicants seem to have simply gone in search of new judgments
in disregard of the time and the role of each jurisdiction. ln Ernesf Francis Mtingwiv.
s
Article 8.1 of the Inter-American Convention on Human Rights provides that: 'Every person has the
right to a hearing, with due guarantees and within a reasonable time, by a competent, independent,
and impartial tribunal, previously established by law..."
6 Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights stipulates that.' "Every individual
shall have the right to have his cause heard. This comprises: ... the right to be tried within
reasonable
a
time by an impartial court or tribunal".
7
ICJ : Application for review of Judgment No. 158 of the United Nafrons Administrative Tribunal,
Advisory Opinion,121711973, Rec. 1973, p. 209, $92
8 ACHPR, Matter of Norbert Zongo, Preliminary objection and merits, 291612013
and 281312014
4