47. With regard to the instant Application, the Court notes that the decision of
the Court of Appeal was rendered on 12 October 2017 while the Application
was filed on 28 September 2018. The period at stake hence is 11 months
and 16 days. It is this period, therefore, that the Court must assess to
determine reasonableness.
48. In its jurisprudence, the Court has taken into consideration, among other
factors, incarceration and being on death row with the resultant limited
movement and limited access to information14 as being relevant factors in
determining the reasonableness of time.15 The Court has also found the
time to be manifestly reasonable when the period under consideration is
relatively short.16
49. In the present Application, given the Applicant’s situation as a lay and
incarcerated person who filed the Application without counsel’s assistance,
and in light of the relatively short length of time i.e. 11 months and 16 days,
the Court finds that the Application was filed within a reasonable time as
required by Rule 50(2)(f) of the Rules.
50. Concerning the admissibility requirement specified under Article 56(7) of the
Charter and Rule 50(2)(g) of the Rules, the Court notes that there is nothing
on record to show that the Application concerns a case which has already
been settled by the Parties in accordance with the principles of the Charter
of the United Nations, the Constitutive Act of the African Union, the
provisions of the Charter or of any legal instrument of the African Union. The
Court, thus, finds that the Application complies with Rule 50(2)(g) of the
Rules.
14
Igola Iguna v. United Republic of Tanzania (merits and reparations), supra, §§ 37-38.
Thomas v. United Republic of Tanzania (merits), supra, § 73; Amir Ramadhani v. United Republic of
Tanzania (merits) (11 May 2018) 2 AfCLR 344, § 83.
16 Sebastian Germain Ajavon v. Republic of Benin (merits and reparations) (29 March 2021) 5 AfCLR
94, § 87; Augustino Niyonzima v. United Republic of Tanzania, Application No. 058/2016 , Judgment
of 13 June 2023 (merits and reparations), § 58.
15
13