000500 "1. Every individual shall have the right to have his cause heard. This comprises: (a) the right to an appeal to competent national organs against acts of violating his fundamental rights as recognized and guaranteed by conventions, laws, regulations and customs in force;" 57. This right to appeal requires that individuals are provided with an opportunity to access competent organs, to appeal decisions or acts violating their rights. lt entails that States should establish mechanisms for such appeal and take necessary action that facilitates the exercise of this right by individuals, including providing them with the judgments or decisions that they wish to appeal from. 58. ln the instant Application the Court notes that the Applicant has made numerous attempts to request for the certified true copies of the record of proceedings and judgments from the Respondent State to no avail. ln the absence of the said documents, the Applicant was not able to appeal his convictions and sentences in Criminal Case No.244 of 1995 and Criminal Case No. 278 of 1995, to the High Court and subsequently to the Court of Appeal. 59. The record before this Court shows that on 29 November 2000, the Applicant wrote to District Registrar of the High Court at Mwanza, enquiring on the status of his notice of appeal in respect of Criminal Case No. 278 of 1995. The Court notes that in response to the Applicant's letter dated 16 January 2OO4, the District Registrar of the High Court at Mwanza wrote to the Applicant on 9 Febru ary 2004 informing him that the Court is yet to receive the records of proceedings for his cases from the District Court of Bunda. 60. The record also indicates that the Magistrate in Charge of the District Court at Mwanza, under whose administration the District Court of Bunda falls, wrote to the Applicant on 13 October,2010 informing him that the records of proceedings for the two criminal cases had not been returned from the High Court where it had Y s( X