December 2019, on the instructions of the public prosecutor. On 23 December 2019, the plane carrying Mr Guillaume Soro was compelled to land in Accra, Ghana, due to a large deployment of security forces at the Abidjan airport, where he was due to land. 4. On the same day, the Abidjan Court of First Instance Public Prosecutor (hereinafter referred to as the “Abidjan Court of First Instance”) announced that a judicial investigation had been opened against Mr Guillaume Kigbafori Soro and others for embezzlement of public funds, money laundering and attempted subversion of State authority. The judicial investigation was based on alleged acts dating back to 2007, when Guillaume Kigbafori Soro was Prime Minister of the Respondent State. 5. The Applicants aver that an arrest warrant was issued for Mr Guillaume Kigbafori Soro. Some of them were arrested by the police, interrogated without the assistance of a lawyer present and without notification of charges, after which they were placed in detention, including in far-flung prisons. They further aver that two of them were “declared missing”. On 26 December 2019 and 7 February 2020, their lawyers appealed for the annulment of the arrest warrant before the investigative chamber of the Abidjan Court of Appeal. B. Alleged violations 6. The Applicants allege violation of the following rights: i. The rights to equality before the law and equal protection of the law, guaranteed by Articles 3 of the Charter and 2 of the International Covenant on Cil and Political Rights (hereinafter referred to as “the ICCPR”); ii. The right to liberty and security of person, guaranteed by Article 6 of the Charter and Article 9(1) of the ICCPR; iii. The right to a fair trial, in particular the right to be tried by a competent court, protected by Article 7(1)(a) of the Charter ; the right to be 3