constitutional petitions cannot overturn the Court of Appeal decision, which
was determined by a three-judge bench. Further, the Applicant refutes the
claim that the review remedy was not pursued since he filed a notice of
motion for review of the Court of Appeal’s decision, which was received by
the “Registry of the Court of Appeal at Bukoba on 11 March 2014”.
***
38. 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 must fulfil the requirement of exhaustion of local remedies. The
requirement aims at providing States the opportunity to deal with human
rights violations within their jurisdictions before an international human
rights body is called upon to determine the State’s responsibility for the
same.13
39. The Court has also stated in a number of cases involving the Respondent
State that the remedies of filing a constitutional petition in the High Court
and use of the review procedure in the Respondent State’s judicial system
are extraordinary remedies. Therefore, an Applicant is not required to
exhaust these remedies prior to seizing this Court.14
40. The Court notes that the Court of Appeal of Tanzania, the highest judicial
organ in the Respondent State, had, by its judgment of 21 May 2009 on the
Applicant’s appeal, upheld his conviction and sentence following
proceedings which the Applicant alleges violated his rights. The Court
therefore finds that the Applicant exhausted local remedies prior to filing the
Application.
41. In view of the above, the Court dismisses the Respondent State’s objection
alleging that the Applicant did not exhaust local remedies.
13
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights v. Kenya (merits), supra, §§ 93-94.
See Thomas v. Tanzania (merits), supra, § 65; Abubakari v. Tanzania (merits), supra, §§ 66-70;
Christopher Jonas v. United Republic of Tanzania (merits) (28 September 2017) 2 AfCLR 101, § 44.
14
12