application as there was no clear and compelling justification for the lapse
of time.26
61. Furthermore, in the instant case, being cognisant of the principle of legal
certainty, this Court is constrained in its interpretation of reasonable time
and cannot overstretch the construction of reasonableness without decisive
elements that are sufficiently proven.27
62. As such, the Applicants’ reliance on the Mabomba Ruling in the present
matter cannot stand the test of reasonableness just as it did not in the said
Ruling.
63. As a consequence, this Court finds that the present Application, in respect
of the First Applicant, does not meet the requirement of reasonableness set
out under Article 56(6) of the Charter given that the First Applicant’s case
bears exclusively on the Mabomba Ruling.
64. In light of the above, the Court upholds the Respondent State’s objection
and finds that the Application was not filed within a reasonable time in
respect of the First Applicant.
65. Regarding the Second Applicant, the Court notes that circumstances
pertaining to him require taking a different approach in determining
reasonableness of time to file his application. Firstly, after the Court of
Appeal dismissed his appeal on 5 November 2009, the Second Applicant
filed an application for review sometime in 2010, which is the very year when
the Respondent State filed the Declaration and this Court began to receive
cases involving the said Respondent State. As this Court has consistently
held, while the review procedure is not a remedy to be exhausted, an
applicant cannot be disadvantaged for pursuing it and doing so will be taken
Mabomba v. Tanzania (ruling), supra, § 54. See also, Anthony and Kisite v. United Republic of
Tanzania (jurisdiction and admissibility) (2019) 3 AfCLR 470, § 49.
27 Rajabu Yusuph v. United Republic of Tanzania, ACtHPR, Application No. 036/2017, Ruling of 22
March 2022 (jurisdiction and admissibility), § 71.
26
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