It is important to underscore this, because the Court seems to understand
the Applicant's requests as requests for the “Court’s opinion” “on a number
of issues” (paragraph 7).
11. For all these reasons, the Court ought to have abstained from
responding to the application for interpretation of Article 28(1) of the
Protocol and Rule 59(2) of the Rules, in its judgment of 28 March 2014.
Il. Consideration
the Court which
above.
of the Applicant’s grievance on the composition of
rendered the judgment of 21 June 2013 mentioned
12. In his application for interpretation of the Judgment of 21 June 2013,
the Applicant also requested for the interpretation of « the date of the
Judgment dated June 21, 2013 in terms of Article 15 (2) of the Rules of
Procedure of the IAHRC » [sic], in pointing out that whereas in the public
hearing he appeared before nine judges, the judgment states that it was
rendered by ten judges.
13. In its 28 March 2014 judgment,
the Court took time to respond
in the
following words: « The Court concedes that there is a typographical error
and the record should have read six and three judges instead of seven and
three and a corrigendum has been issued. Nevertheless, this is not a point
for interpretation» (paragraph 9).
14.
In
my
view,
the
Court
did
not
have
to
deal
with
this
issue
in
its
judgment. Firstly, as admitted by the Court, it is not a matter for
interpretation (this thus places it outside the jurisdiction of the Court in the
interpretation of judgments). Secondly, the Court does not have to correct
simple typographical errors in a judgment on the interpretation of an earlier
decision. In its practice, the Court corrects such errors through an erratum
attached to the judgment in question. This approach would have been
sufficient to solve the problem. In my view, a judicial decision of the Court
does not seem to be the right place to deal with such issues.
Judge Gérard Niyungeko
Robert ENO,
Registrar
g
—