50. In its Response, the Respondent raises objections concerning two of the above
conditions, namely, the requirements of exhaustion of local remedies and the
time limit for seizure of the Court.
1. Objection based on non-exhaustion of local remedies
51. The Respondent argues that this Application fails to meet the requirement of
Article 56(5) of the Charter. It contends that all allegations of violation of the
rights of the Applicants are being raised and brought to its notice for the very
first time in the instant Application, although local avenues of redress existed.
52. In this regard, the Respondent asserts that the Applicants had the possibility of
lodging a petition regarding the alleged violations of their constitutional rights
before the High Court pursuant to the Basic Rights and Duties Act No.9,
Chapter 3, 2002. According to the Respondent, the Applicants should have
utilised these available local avenues before approaching the Court. The
Respondent adds that the Court is not a Court of first instance, but a Court of
last resort.
53. The Applicants, in their Reply, argue that the local remedies indicated by the
Respondent are extra-ordinary remedies, which, pursuant to the jurisprudence
of the Court, need not be eXhausted.
The Court's Assessment
54. The Court notes that six of the allegations made by the Applicants relating to:
the alleged violation of 'all accepted principles of international law'; alleged
violation of the right to equality before the law and equal protection of the law;
the re-arrest of the Applicants after their acquittal; the incommunicado detention
of the Applicants following their re-arrest; the failure of the Respondent to give
copies of judgments of national courts in due time and the non-provision of legal
assistance were not explicitly raised in the domestic proceedings. These are
matters that are being raised for the first time in this Court. However, these
allegations happened in the course of the domestic judicial proceedings that
led to the Applicants' conviction and sentence to thirty (30) years' imprisonment.
They all form part of the "bundle of rights and guarantees" that were related to
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