63. The Court therefore holds that the Applicant exhausted local remedies and
dismisses the Respondent State’s objection on this point.
iii.
Proceedings against the Commissioner of the Cotonou Central Police
Station, the Director General of Police and the Minister of the Interior
64. The Court notes that, as it emerges from the record, the Applicant filed a
complaint against his driver for withholding his vehicle. Having considered
that the Cotonou Central Commissioner did not forward his case to the
Cotonou public prosecutor, he contacted the Director General of Police and
the Minister of the Interior seeking their intervention in order to forward the
case.
65. When this did not produce the desired result, he brought an action before
the Constitutional Court against these authorities on the grounds that they
violated the duty of conscience, competence, probity, devotion and loyalty
in the interest of, and respect for, the common good, as set out in Article 35
of the Constitution, and for violation of his right to a fair trial, as guaranteed
by Article 7 of the Charter.
66. The Court notes in relation to the said proceedings that in its decisions DCC
16- 121 of 4 August 2016 and DCC17-092 of 4 May 2017, the Constitutional
Court noted that the Applicant failed to comply with the procedure before
the Commissioner of Police, which prevented the latter from forwarding the
file for purposes of prosecution; and that neither the Director General of
Police nor the Minister of the Interior had the power to interfere in these
judicial proceedings. The Constitutional Court declined jurisdiction with
regard to the action against the Commissioner of the Cotonou Central Police
Station for violation of Article 35 of the Constitution and Article 7 of the
African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights; and dismissed the
Applicant’s action against the Minister of the Interior on the grounds that the
Applicant’s petition sought to have the Minister of the Interior intervene in
legal proceedings that were still pending.
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