by the Court of Appeal. The Respondent State contends that such period
of time is not reasonable, and the Applicant being in prison was and is not
a bar to access the Court.
47. The Applicant on his part refutes the Respondent State’s objection and
cites, among others, the Court’s decision in Alex Thomas v. Tanzania where
it was held that a period of three (3) years and five (5) months before filing
the application was reasonable. He submits that he is lay, indigent and
incarcerated with limited access to information. The Applicant argues that,
in the alternative, the Court should take into account the fact that he is still
incarcerated and thus every day suffers the consequences of the
Respondent State’s ongoing violations of his human rights.
48. He submits that given this fact, the Court should rule that the true date
marking the beginning of a reasonable period of time to submit his
Application was not in fact 25 September 2013, but could be designated as
any and every day while his incarceration continues. In his reply, the
Applicant reiterates these arguments and asserts that his claims are not in
respect of being barred from accessing the Court but rather that the
circumstances necessitated him to be granted more time to prepare and file
his Application.
***
49. As the Court has previously held, “… the reasonableness of the timeframe
for seizure depends on the specific circumstances of the case and should
be determined on a case-by-case basis.”18 Some of the factors that the
Court has considered as relevant in assessing reasonableness include the
fact that an applicant is incarcerated,19 lay in law,20 indigent;21 and needed
18
Zongo and Others v. Burkina Faso (merits), supra, § 92. See also Thomas v. Tanzania (merits),
supra, § 73.
19 Diocles William v. United Republic of Tanzania (merits) (21 September 2018) 2 AfCLR 426, § 52 and
Thomas v. Tanzania (merits), ibid, § 74.
20 Christopher Jonas v. United Republic of Tanzania (merits) (28 September 2017) 2 AfCLR 101, § 54
and Amir Ramadhani v. United Republic of Tanzania (merits) (11 May 2018) 2 AfCLR 344, § 83.
21 Nguza Viking (Babu Seya) and Johnson Nguza (Papi Kocha) v. United Republic of Tanzania (merits)
(23 March 2018) 2 AfCLR 287, § 61 and Amir Ramadhani v. United Republic of Tanzania (merits), ibid,
§ 83.
14