v. Ms Vivian METHOD, State Attorney, Office of the Solicitor General; vi. Mr Daniel NYAKIHA, State Attorney, Office of the Solicitor General; vii. Ms Narindwa SEKIMANGA, State Attorney, Office of the Solicitor General; and viii. Ms Blandina KASAGAMA, Legal Officer, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation. After deliberation, Renders this Judgment: I. THE PARTIES 1. Bahati Mtega (hereinafter referred to as “the First Applicant”) and Flowin Mtweve (hereinafter referred to as “the Second Applicant”) (hereinafter collectively referred to as “the Applicants”), are Tanzanian nationals. At the time of filing this Application, they were imprisoned at Ruanda Prison in Mbeya following their trial, conviction, and sentence by the District Court of Ludewa, to life imprisonment and 12 strokes of the cane, for gang rape. They allege that the Respondent State violated their rights to a fair trial and to dignity in the course of the domestic proceedings against them. 2. The Application is filed against the United Republic of Tanzania (hereinafter referred to as “the Respondent State”) which became a party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (hereinafter referred to as “the Charter”) on 21 October 1986 and to the Protocol on 10 February 2006. It also deposited, on 29 March 2010, the Declaration under Article 34(6) of the Protocol, through which it accepted the jurisdiction of the Court to receive cases from individuals and Non-Governmental Organizations (hereinafter referred to as “the Declaration”). On 21 November 2019, the Respondent State deposited, with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, an instrument withdrawing the Declaration. The Court has held that this withdrawal did not have any effect on pending cases as well as new cases filed before 22 November 2020, which is the day on which the withdrawal 2