353. Thirdly, the Applicant State avers that the question of lis pendens does not arise in the instant case, since under Rule 37(1) of the Rules, lis pendens can only be invoked where the same case is pending before the Court and the Commission. Furthermore, it observes that, in his dissenting opinion in Tike Mwambipile and Equality Now v. United Republic of Tanzania, Judge Ben Achour stressed that “the principle (of litis pendence), which is highly controversial, cannot be applied whenever a case is pending before another court or human rights body”. 354. The Applicant State points out that if the Court decides to disregard the objection, it must comply with substantive requirements, namely, similarity of the parties and of the subject matter of the cases brought before at least two courts which, moreover, must be of the same order, having regard to the nature of their tasks and their jurisdiction, which is not the situation in the instant case. In this regard, it cites the judgment of the ICJ in the matter of Certain German Interests in Polish Upper Silesia (Germany v. Poland). 355. In this respect, the Applicant State explains that the Court is an international court with jurisdiction over the protection of human rights in Africa, whereas the EACJ is a court whose jurisdiction, mainly relating to the interpretation and application of Community law, is confined to one region in Africa. 356. At the hearing, the Applicant State reiterated the content of its submissions. It asserted that Rule 50(2)(g) of the Rules could not be interpreted differently from the Court's established jurisprudence. It further submitted that the present Application is different from proceedings before the EACJ, and that, in any event, lis pendens is not a ground for this Court declaring an application inadmissible. * 357. In its Response, the Respondent State argues that the Applicant’s assertion that lis pendens has no normative basis in the African human rights protection system, nor in any practice of the instant Court, since it is a 79

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