of Canada and. At the time of filing the present Application, the Applicants were government officials, parliamentarians, civil servants or affiliates of various political parties. They allege human rights violations in connection with criminal proceedings brought against them during the 2020 elections. 2. The Application is filed against the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire (hereinafter referred to as “the Respondent State”), which became a Party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (hereinafter referred to as “the Charter”), on 31 March 1992, and to the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (hereinafter referred to as “the Protocol”) on 25 January 2004. Furthermore, on 23 July 2013, the Respondent State deposited the Declaration provided for under Article 34(6) of the Protocol (hereafter referred to as “the Declaration”) by virtue of which it accepted the jurisdiction of the Court to receive applications from individuals and NonGovernmental Organisations having observer status before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. On 29 April 2020, the Respondent State deposited with the Chairperson of the African Union Commission the instrument of withdrawal of the said Declaration. The Court has held that this withdrawal had no bearing on pending cases and new cases filed before the withdrawal comes into effect one year after the date of its deposit, in this case, on 30 April 2021.1 II. SUBJECT MATTER OF THE APPLICATION A. Facts of the matter 3. The Applicants aver that Mr Guillaume Kigbafori Soro officially announced his candidature in the October 2020 presidential election. In this political context, some Applicants were arrested by the police between 23 and 31 1 Kouadio Kobena Fory v. Republic of Côte d’Ivoire (merits and reparations) (2 December 2021) 5 AfCLR 682, § 2; Suy Bi Gohoré Émile and Others v. Republic of Côte d’Ivoire (merits and reparations) (15 July 2020) (merits and reparations) 4 AfCLR 406, § 67. 2