(ii) that Judges who should have presided over his cases in court often disqualified
themselves from hearing the cases deliberately to prolong or delay conclusion of the
cases; and
(iii) that the lower the lower courts subjected his cases to massive deliberate selective or
differential application of the Rule of law, thus triggering a continuous wave of
lodgment of expensive time consuming and unnecessary appeals, taking unreasonably
long period of time to dispose of cases, supply certified copies of proceedings and
rulings/judgment
to enable him appeal to higher courts, and dismissed his cases
without delving into their merits.
83. The Complainant accused the Respondent State of permitting illeg*lJnvasion and auction
of his law firm thereby depriving him of his socio-econofiiic rights, arid of threatening and
intimidating him with arrest and imprisonment whenever he represented his clients before
some national courts.
.,.
·'~/h/·
can
84. It is undeniable that local remedies are considered available if they
be pursued without
impediments, whether practical or legal in nature. In Human Rights Council and Others v.
Bthiopia=, the Commission summarized this by stating that:
"For this purpose there must exisi relevant eubstantioe and procedural laws, and competent
institutions or organs and processes which a complainant can access and utilize in practice without
unjustifiable impediments".
85. In relation to the above-mentioned arguments by the Complainant, the Commission does
not find any substantive evidence that supports the allegations against the judges, the
courts of first instance and the higher courts. The Commission rather observes that the
Complainant was able to take his cases all the way to the Supreme Court, which is the apex
judicial body, pursul1.:6.t,toArticle 163 (7) of the Constitution. Certainly, while he has not
received decisions favorable to him, thisl does not prove the ineffectiveness of the local
remedies:
Council v Ethiopia cited above, "the effectiveness of a remedy
does not depend on the certainty or guarantee of a favorable outcome for the complainant" but is
rather premised on the ability of the legal system to guarantee fair trial processes to
victims. The Commission has not observed any prima facie evidence to demonstrate the
inability of local courts to guarantee the Complainant fair trial processes.
86. As also held in Huma~Rights
32 Communication
445/13 - Human Rights Council and Others v. Ethiopia, para 48
741h Ordinary Session of the ACHPR