Arusha, Tanzania
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JUDGMENT SUMMARY
ELINAZI ELIABU ALIAS MSHANA
V. UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA
APPLICATION NO. 060/2019
JUDGMENT ON MERITS AND REPARATIONS
A DECISION OF THE AFRICAN COURT ON HUMAN AND PEOPLES’ RIGHTS
Arusha, 6 March 2026: The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Court)
delivered a judgment in the case of Elinazi ELIABU alias MSHANA v. United Republic of
Tanzania.
Elinazi Eliabu alias Mshana (“the Applicant”) is a national of the United Republic of Tanzania
(the Respondent State). At the time of filing the Application he was incarcerated at Ruanda
Prison, at Mbeya, serving a 30-year sentence having been tried, convicted and sentenced for
the offence of armed robbery. He alleges the violation of his rights during his arrest and before
the national courts.
The Respondent State objected to the jurisdiction of the Court as well as to the admissibility
of the Application.
Concerning the Court’s jurisdiction, the Respondent State raised an objection to the Court’s
material jurisdiction. Specifically, the Respondent State contended that this Court was seized
to sit as an appellate court, while it does not have such jurisdiction. According to the
Respondent State, the Applicant was inviting this Court to quash the decisions of the
Respondent State’s domestic courts, while it lacks jurisdiction to do so.
With regard to the contention that the Court would be exercising appellate jurisdiction, the
Court reiterated its jurisprudence that it does not exercise appellate jurisdiction with respect to
claims already examined by national courts. At the same time, however, and even though the
it is not an appellate court vis-à-vis domestic courts, it retains the power to assess the
propriety of domestic proceedings against standards set out in international human rights