expected to have become aware of the Court, and 2016, the year the
Application was filed, which is a period of three (3) years.
52. The Court recalls its jurisprudence that “… the reasonableness of the
timeframe for seizure depends on the specific circumstances of the case
and should be determined on a case-by-case basis.”19 In view of this, the
Court has taken into consideration circumstances such as incarceration and
being on death row with the resultant limited movement and limited flow of
information,20 being lay without the benefit of legal assistance21 and lack of
awareness of the existence of the Court.22 Nevertheless, these
circumstances must be proven.
53. In the present Application, the Court notes that the Applicant is not only
incarcerated but has been on death row since his conviction and sentencing
in 2005 with the resultant limitation in movement and flow of information,
which, this Court has held in previous similar instances, could cause delays
in filing applications.23 The Court finds that this situation negates the fourth
ground of the Respondent State’s objection, namely, that the Applicant
cannot claim that he was impeded in accessing the Court, as the issue is
the timeliness thereof. The Court also notes that the Applicant is selfrepresented before this Court.
54. In view of these circumstances, the Court finds that the period of three (3)
years that it took the Applicant to file the present Application is reasonable
within the meaning of Article 56(6) of the Charter and Rule 50(2)(f) of the
Rules.
19
Norbert Zongo and Others v. Burkina Faso (merits), supra, § 92. See also Thomas v. Tanzania
(merits), supra, § 73.
20 Igola Iguna v. United Republic of Tanzania, ACtHPR, Application No. 020/2017, Judgment of 1
December 2022, §§ 37-38.
21 Thomas v. Tanzania (merits), supra, § 73; Jonas v. Tanzania (merits), supra, § 54; Amir Ramadhani
v. United Republic of Tanzania (merits) (11 May 2018) 2 AfCLR 344, § 83.
22 Ramadhani v. Tanzania (merits), ibid, § 50; Jonas v. Tanzania (merits), ibid, § 54.
23 Thomas v. Tanzania (merits), supra, § 73; Jonas v. Tanzania (merits), supra, § 54; Ramadhani v.
Tanzania (merits), supra, § 83; Iguna v. Tanzania, supra, § 39.
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