53, When the Commission submits its activity report, it exercises a legal role as an adjudicating body. When the Assembly exercises the processes of deciding whether or not to pass sanctions in terms of Article 23(2) of the Constitutive Act, it exercises it own role in line with its internal rules and political processes outside the scope of this Commission’s powers. The two processes should not be conflated to be the same, as appears to be the case when the Respondent State alleges that the matter has been politicised. 54. The Commission, also notes that the recommendation State submits that nul ines raised in the vem iy involvin Ss the g i e P parties.(or some of them) for. thi .U Assembly to take Communication were already settled by in a court with the same competencies as the p one thatpreviously tried the case. Three things are critical in assessing whether a matter fits the res judicata ted . One, the matter must be “directly and substantially” similar in both cases. Two, the parties in both cases must be the same or some of the parties in the new case must be a part of the previous claim. Three, the matter must have been finalised in the previous case. All three conditions need to be satisfied in order to conclude that a matter is res judicata.