34. The Applicant did not respond to this objection.
***
35. The Court notes that pursuant to Article 56(5) of the Charter, whose
provisions are restated in Rule 50(2)(e) of the Rules, any application filed
before it shall fulfil the requirement of exhaustion of local remedies. As
regards the remedies to be exhausted, the Court has held in its previous
judgments that they must be ordinary.10
36. As regards the Respondent State, the Court has in a number of its
judgements also held that Applicants are not obliged to bring a constitutional
challenge before the Court for violation of fundamental rights, as the Court
has ruled that the said remedy is an extraordinary remedy.11 In line with the
Court’s decision, the Applicant is deemed to have exhausted local remedies
once the he has pursued his case through the judicial system, up to the
Court of Appeal, which is the highest court of the country.12
37. The Court notes that in the instant case, the Applicant’s appeal was decided
by the Court of Appeal’s judgement of 30 November 2015. As the
constitutional challenge in the Respondent State’s judicial system is
considered by this Court as an extraordinary remedy that the Applicant is
not bound to exercise, the Court considers that local remedies were
exhausted in the instant matter.
38. In view of the foregoing, the Court holds that the Applicant exhausted the
local remedies provided for in Article 56(5) of the Charter and Rule 50(2)(e)
10
Laurent Munyandikiwa v. Republic of Rwanda, ACtHPR, Application No. 023/2015, Judgment of 2
December 2021, § 74; Alex Thomas v. United Republic of Tanzania (merits), (20 November 2015) 1
AfCLR 465, § 64.
11 Gozbert Henrico v. United Republic of Tanzania, ACtHPR, Application No. 056/2016, Judgment of 10
January 2022, § 61; Mgosi Mwita Makungu v. United Republic of Tanzania (merits) (7 December 2018)
2 AfCLR 550, § 46; Mohamed Abubakari v. United Republic of Tanzania (merits) (3 June 2016) 1 AfCLR
599, §§ 66-70; Thomas v. Tanzania (merits), § 63-65.
12 Hamis Shaban aka Hamis Ustadh v. United Republic of Tanzania, ACtHPR, Application No. 026/2015,
Judgment of 2 December 2021, § 51; Abubakari v. Tanzania (merits), § 76.
10