right of access to public responsibilities shall be justified, notably as a result of having committed particularly serious crimes. It is therefore not a matter of denying that the current authorities of Burkina may, in principle, have the powers of restricting access to the right to vote, but it is the ambiguous nature of the criteria of exclusion, and the expeditious and widespread application thereof, which the Court considers contrary to the texts. Forbidding any organisation or person from presenting its candidature for elections, on the grounds of being politically close to an ousted regime, whereas the person concerned has not committed any particular offence, is tantamount, in the view of the Court, somewhat, to an offence for holding an opinion, which is obviously unacceptable. 29. The exact scope of the law on restriction of access to the electoral race must therefore be properly appreciated. Such law must not be used as a means for discriminating against political minorities 30. In that regard, the argument regarding illegality of the anti-constitutional change of government, extended to the Applicants, on the basis of the new electoral code, is untenable. Without going into an argumentation on the very manner in which the previous regime attempted to amend the Constitution, the Court recalls that the sanction of an anti-constitutional change of government goes against regimes, States and possibly their leaders, and does not concern the rights of ordinary citizens. Neither the spirit behind the sanction of anti-constitutional change of governments, nor the general developing trends in international law, which seek to make Human Rights a sanctuary, disregards the reasoning of States and regimes, and does not permit an inconsiderate and indiscriminate application of the coercive measures capable of being envisaged in such circumstances. 31. If, therefore, the principle of constitutional and political independence of States incontestably implies that States are at liberty to determine the regime and political institutions of their choice, and to adopt the the laws they deem fit, that liberty shall be exercised in conformity with the commitments the States have undertaken in that regard. Now, there is no doubt that such commitments do exist, the impressive list of texts invoked by the Applicants attesting to that fact. Within the specific context of 11