persons to court in accordance with both domestic and
international fair trial standards.
108.
The Complainants in the present Communication cited a plethora
of instances of crimes and human rights violations, including multiple
occasions of the arrest of hundreds of individuals who were either
protesting, marching, or involved in political rallies; the killing of dozens
of individuals during police crackdowns on protesters and
demonstrators; and cases of arrest of journalists, which are well
documented and published by state and non-state actors, but never
investigated by the Respondent State. Given the scale of the alleged
violations and their wide publicity, the Commission believes that it is
impossible for the Respondent State not to be aware of them and did
nothing to investigate the allegations. What, therefore, guaranteed that
there will be prospects of success for the Victims in domestic courts?
109.
The Commission believes that the Respondent State’s
inability/unwillingness to initiate an investigation and prosecute the
perpetrators demonstrates that local remedies are unavailable,
inefficient, and inadequate.
110.
From the foregoing, the Commission notes that expecting the
Victims to pursue or exhaust local remedies would be undesirable and
unreasonable. The Communication accordingly falls under the category
of exceptions to the requirement of exhaustion of local remedies and,
therefore, satisfies the requirement of Article 56(5) of the Charter.
111.
Concerning Article 56(6) of the Charter, a Communication must
be submitted ‘…within a reasonable period from the time local remedies
are exhausted or from the date the Commission is seized of the matter’.
112.
The Complainants aver that the Communication is submitted
within six months of the date of proclamation of the May 2015
Elections. The Commission has previously held that the time frame
within which to submit a Communication is dependent on the
exhaustion of domestic remedies. Where domestic remedies are
unavailable such that the Complainant cannot exhaust them, the
Communication will satisfy Article 56(6) of the Charter as long as it is
submitted without delay. The Commission notes that the present
Communication has been submitted without delay and, therefore, finds
that it satisfies the requirement of Article 56(6) of the Charter.
113.
Article 56 (7) of the Charter provides that Communications shall
be considered if they ‘do not deal with cases which have been settled by
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African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
31 Bijilo Annex Layout, Kombo North District,
West Coast Region, The Gambia,
Phone: (220) 230 4361 Fax: (220) 441 05 04
Email: au-banjul@africa-union.org
https:/achpr.au.int/