***
41. The Court notes pursuant to Article 56(5) of the Charter, whose provisions
are restated in Rule 50(2)(e) of the Rules, that, any application filed before
it has to fulfil the requirement of exhaustion of local remedies. The rule of
exhaustion of local remedies aims at providing states the opportunity to
resolve cases of alleged human rights violations within their jurisdiction
before an international human rights body is called upon to determine the
state’s responsibility for the same.7
42. In the instant case, the Court notes from the record that the Applicant having
been convicted at the District Court of Nzega filed an appeal against his
conviction and sentence to the High Court, which dismissed his appeal on
25 March 2002. He then appealed to the Court of Appeal of Tanzania, the
highest judicial organ of the Respondent State, which on 7 March 2005,
upheld the judgment of the High Court. The Court further notes that the
claims raised by the Applicant herein were also raised in substance in the
national courts, given that he had also challenged the procedure leading to
his conviction. The Respondent State thus had the opportunity to redress
the alleged violations. Consequently, the Applicant exhausted all the
available domestic remedies.
43. For this reason, the Court dismisses the objection relating to the nonexhaustion of local remedies.
B. Objection based on failure to file the Application within a reasonable time
44. The Respondent State contends that the Court of Appeal delivered its
judgment on 7 March 2005, while the Applicant seised the Court on 20
October 2017. In addition, the Respondent State alludes to the fact that it
deposited its Declaration under Article 34(6) of the Protocol on 29 March
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights v. Republic of Kenya (merits) (26 May 2017) 2
AfCLR 9, §§ 93-94.
7
11