Constitutive Act of the African Union, as set out in Article 3(h) thereof, is the
promotion and protection of human and peoples’ rights. Furthermore, there
is nothing in the Application that is incompatible with the Constitutive Act of
the African Union. The Application therefore meets the requirements under
Rule 50(2)(b) of the Rules.
66. The Court further notes that the present Application is not based exclusively
on information disseminated through the mass media but rather on
challenges brought before the Respondent State’s courts. The Application,
therefore, meets the requirement of Rule 50(2)(d) of the Rules.
67. With regards to Rule 50(2)(e) of the Rules pertaining to the exhaustion of
local remedies, the Court observes that the Application was filed before it
after the Cassation Court had considered the case twice. In the first
procedure, the Cassation Court, by Judgment No. 9287 of 30 April 2013,
quashed the judgment and referred the case back to a reconstituted bench
of the Court of Appeal. In the second procedure initiated by AEREC, the
Cassation Court, by Judgment No. 45501/46360 of 4 December 2017,
quashed the judgment without referral to the Court of Appeal.
68. The Court notes that the Cassation Court is the apex court of the
Respondent State. Furthermore, there is nothing in the record to indicate
that the Applicant had any other ordinary judicial remedy in the Respondent
State’s legal system that he could have pursued. Accordingly, the Court
finds that the Applicant exhausted local remedies, and the Application
therefore meets the requirement set out under Rule 50 (2)(e) of the Rules.
69. The Court further observes that the Cassation Court rendered its decision
on 4 December 2017, that is, eight months and 15 days before the present
Application was filed before this Court on 11 September 2018. The Court
considers the time taken by the Applicant to seize it to be manifestly
reasonable, which makes it compliant with Rule 50(2)(f) of the Rules.11
11 Lameck Bazil v. United Republic of Tanzania, AfCHPR, Application No. 027/2018, Judgment of 13
November 2024, §41.
15