30. In accordance with rule 50(1) of the Rules of Procedure, “the Court shall
ascertain the admissibility of an application filed before it in accordance with
Article 56 of the Charter, Article 6 (2) of the Protocol and these Rules.”
31. Furthermore, Rule 50(2) of the Rules of Court, which in essence restates
the provisions of Article 56 of the Charter, provides:
Applications filed before the Court shall comply with the following
conditions:
a.
Indicate their authors, even if the latter Application anonymity;
b.
Are compatible with the Constitutive Act of the African Union
and with the Charter;
c.
Are not written in disparaging or insulting language directed
against the State concerned and its institutions or to the African
Union;
d.
Are not based exclusively on news disseminated through the
mass media;
e.
Are sent after exhausting local remedies, if any, unless it is
obvious that this procedure is unduly prolonged;
f.
Are submitted within a reasonable period of time from the date
local remedies were exhausted or from the date set by the court
as being the commencement of the time limit within which it
shall be seised with the matter; and
g.
Do not deal with matters which have been settled by the States
involved, in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the
United Nations, the Constitutive Act of the African Union or the
provisions of the Charter.
32. The Court notes that the Respondent State raises two objections to
admissibility, based on non-exhaustion of local remedies and failure to file
the application within a reasonable time. The Court will rule on these
objections before examining other conditions of admissibility, if necessary.
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