In Assima Kokou Innocent & 6 Ors V. Rep. of Togo (2013) unreported this court
held that “before it concludes on the issue of occurrence of human rights’
violation, the concrete proof of the fact upon which the Applicant base their
claims must be established with a high degree of certainty, or at least, there must
be a high possibility of the claim appearing to be true, upon scrutiny. In this regard
mere allegations do not suffice to elicit the conviction of the court.
There is therefore no concrete evidence to support the Plaintiffs allegation of
physical injuries sustained which allegation therefore fails.
The Plaintiffs further allege that the AEPB and the Police Officials in the cause
of the alleged arrest, verbally abused them by calling them prostitutes. This
allegation was admitted in para 2.41 of the Defendant’s statement of defence
wherein they submit that the Plaintiffs belong to the class of prostitutes
(commercial sex workers) that are fully establish.
The Defendant maintains that the Plaintiffs are prostitutes and refers to the
mandate given to 1st Plaintiff by the House of Representative Committee as a
confirmation of their assertion.
It is trite that facts admitted need no further proof. Plaintiffs have therefore
established the fact that Defendant’s Agents verbally abused and degraded them
by calling them prostitutes.
The issue to be addressed is whether or not the Defendant has shown reasonable
ground upon which to base their assertion that the Plaintiff are prostitutes.
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