55. In their Reply to the Respondent's preliminary objection on the jurisdiction of the
Court, the Applicants maintained that the jurisdiction of this Court has been invoked,
adding that they have "complied with the Rules and Protocol of the Court in Article
3 (1), Rule 26 and Rule 40 (2)".
56. The Applicants submit further that their allegations against States Parties which
have not made the declaration accepting the jurisdiction of the Court to receive
Applications as per Articles 5(3) and 34(6) of the Protocol were wrongly cited, noting
that in their application to the Court, they "just gave a brief history of how we came
to be in the Respondent State", and "never intended to involve any member states
in this application , as our application is of inordinate delay in the matters that are
facing us in Criminal Case No. 2 of 2006 and Criminal Application No. 16 of 2006.
This delay having been caused by the Respondent state (Tanzania) which is one of
the states which have made a Declaration accepting the competence of the Court to
receive cases as per Article 5(3) and 34(6) of the Protocol".
57. The Court overrules the Respondent's objection that its jurisdiction has not been
invoked simply because the Applicants have only cited ongoing cases against them
within the national judicial system and have not mentioned the Protocol, the Charter,
or any other relevant human rights instruments ratified by the Respondent. The
Court has held in previous cases involving the same Respondent, that is, Application
003/2012, Peter Chacha v United Republic of Tanzania delivered on 28 March 2014
and Application 001/2013, David Frank Omary v. United Republic of Tanzania
delivered on 28 March 2014, that as long as the rights alleged to have been violated
are protected by the Charter or any other human rights instrument ratified by the
State concerned , the Court will have jurisdiction over the matter.
58. In the Instant case, the Applicants allege violations of a number of rights (see
paragraph 24 above). It is not necessary that specific provisions of the Charter be
mentioned in the Application; it suffices that the rights allegedly violated are
guaranteed by the Charter or any other instrument to which the Respondent is party.
18
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