Renders this judgment:
I.
THE PARTIES
1.
Ms Elyssa,2 (hereinafter referred to as “the Applicant”) is a national of the
Republic of Tunisia and a computer engineer by profession. She requested
and granted anonymity by the Court. She alleges violation of her rights in
relation to proceedings before domestic courts following her divorce and
subsequent sentencing to seven months imprisonment for adultery.
2.
The Application is filed against the Republic of Tunisia (hereinafter referred
to as the “Respondent State”), which became a party to the African Charter
on Human and Peoples’ Rights (hereinafter referred to as “the Charter”) on
16 March 1983 and to the Protocol on 21 August 2007. The Respondent
State also deposited, on 16 April 2017, the Declaration provided for in Article
34(6) of the Protocol, by virtue of which it accepts the Court’s jurisdiction to
receive applications from individuals and Non-Governmental Organizations
having observer status before the African Commission on Human and
Peoples’ rights (hereinafter referred to as “the Declaration”). On 7 March
2025, the Respondent State deposited with the African Union Commission
the instrument of withdrawal of the said Declaration. The Court has ruled
that the withdrawal of the Declaration has no effect either on pending cases
or new cases filed before it until the withdrawal comes into effect one year
after the deposit of the instrument thereof, in this case, on 8 March 2026.3
2 Pseudonym adopted by the Applicant.
3 Mouaz Khariji Ghannouchi and Others v. Republic of Tunisia, AfCHPR, Application No. 004/2023,
Decision of 17 March 2025 (setting aside the ruling on provisional measures of 28 August 2023), §§ 12
and 13.
2