0004(}1 hundred and thirty-five (135) former workers of the Australian Laboratory Services (ALS), a limited liability company, alldomiciled in Mali. 2. The Respondent State is the Republic of Maliwhich became a party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (hereinafter referred to as "the Charte/') on 21 October 1986 and to the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People's Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights (hereinafter referred to as "the Protocol") on 24 January 2004. The Respondent State, deposited on 19 February 2010, the Declaration through which it accepts the jurisdiction of the Court to receive applications from individuals and Non- Governmental Organisations. II. SUBJECT OF THE APPLICATION A. Facts of the matter 3. According to the records, on 1 February 2012,ihe Applicants, who claim to have been victims of lead poisoning during their service, seized the Prosecutor at the Commune lll Court of First lnstance of the District of Bamako of a criminal complaint, followed by a letter addressed to the Attorney General at the Court of Appeal of Bamako on the same subject. The Applicants allege that the Australian Laboratory, which specializes in the chemical analysis of samples to determine the content of gold and other metals, used in this respect, toxic products such as acid, butyl diisobutyl (DIBK), and solvents such as nitrate, sodium, lithium, borax, sodium carbonate, sodium oxide and lead. 4. Having received no information from the Prosecutor General on the progress of the case one year after the referral, they concluded that the proceedings had been unduly prolonged by the judicial authorities of the Respondent State. They therefore decided to file the case before this Court. ) qr-'{ 2 e-