1) As
to the
objection
raised
by the
Respondent
State
to the filing
of the
application within a reasonable time
Under Article 56 of the Charter and Rule 40 (6) of the Rules of Court, it is clearly
stated
that
applications
must
be
submitted
within
a
reasonable
time
from
the
exhaustion of domestic remedies or from the date fixed by the Court as the date on
which the time-limit for its own
seizure begins to run.
In the instant case,
the first case, the Court has set the date for the exhaustion
29 May 2009.
of domestic
as regards
remedies as
As to the assessment of the reasonable time limit, the Court found that
the period of four (4) years, nine (9) months and twenty-three (23) days that had
elapsed since the Respondent State's filing of the declaration under Article 34(6) of the
Protocol on 29 March 2010 and the date of referral to the Court of the Application dated
19 January 2015 was reasonable, as the Applicant was imprisoned with the likelihood
of being unaware of the very existence of the Court. The Applicant had not benefited
from legal assistance during the appeal proceedings before the domestic courts!
and
was awaiting the outcome of his second appeal pending before the High Court until 19
March 2017, by which time he had already brought his case before the Court. In this
regard,
the Court noted
that "between
2011
and
2013
he had
not remained
inactive
and, pending the examination of his case, had sent several reminders to the various
judicial authorities ...".* (Paragraph 70 of the judgment).
In light of Rule 40(6) of the Rules of Court, it is clearly stated that applications
must be "filed within a reasonable time from the date local remedies are exhausted or
from the date set by the Court as being the commencement
which
it shall be seized with the matter".
of the time-limit within
It therefore follows that there are two (2)
options as to how to define the starting point of the reasonable time. These are,
e
Either from the date of exhaustion
by the Court, for 29 May
2009,
of domestic
remedies,
set, in this case,
the date of the judgment of the Court of
Appeal which also took into consideration the date of the Declaration made
by the Respondent State on 29 March 2010, which gave rise to a
time-limit
of four (4) years, nine (9) months and twenty-three (23) days on the date of
the filing of the application on 19 January 2015.
1_ § 69 of the Judgement
2_ § 70 of the Judgement