Constitution of the Respondent and the Charter to which the Respondent is a
State Party.
32. Responding to the Respondent's objection that the Application requires the
Court to go beyond its jurisdiction and sit as an Appellate Court, the Applicants
submit that as long as the rights allegedly violated are protected by the Charter
or any other human rights instruments ratified by the Respondent, the Court
has jurisdiction.
iii)
The Court's assessment
33.ln order to ascertain its material jurisdiction, the Court will consider three of the
preliminary objections raised by the Respondent: the allegation that the
conviction and sentence of the Applicants to 30 years' imprisonment was
unconstitutional and contrary to Article 7 (2) of the Charter; the allegation that
the identification parade was flawed with procedural irregularities is a matter
that requires this Court to sit as a "Supreme Appellate Court"; and the allegation
that the Respondent violated 'all accepted principles of human rights' "is vague"
and does not disclose any particular article alleged to have been violated. 1
34. The Court notes that Article 3 (1) of the Protocol provides that the material
jurisdiction of the Court extends to "all cases and disputes submitted to it
concerning the interpretation and application of the Charter, the Protocol and
other relevant human rights instruments ratified by the State concerned."
35. In this regard, the jurisprudence of the Court has, in the judgment of Peter
Chacha v The United Republic of Tanzania, established that:
"As long as the rights allegedly violated fall under the aegis of the Charter or any
other human rights instrument ratified by the State concerned, the Court can
exercise its jurisdiction over the matter."2
1 The Court notes that the other preliminary objections of the Respondent concerning the jurisdiction of
the Court are pertinent to the admissibility of the Application and hence, will be addressed in the
admissibility section on admissibility.
2 Peter Joseph Chacha v The United Republic of Tanzania, Application No. 003/2014 judgment of 8
March 2014 (hereinafter referred to as Peter Chach~ Case), para. 114 ~
JfE
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