II. SUBJECT OF THE APPLICATION A. Facts of the matter 3. It emerges from the record that on the evening of 27 March 2013, while on his way home, Zerbo Seydou, a lawyer by profession, was attacked by four (4) individuals armed with Kalashnikov rifles and pistols. They robbed him of a sum of money and his briefcase containing various items. In the days that followed, the same lawyer came under repeated death threats issued from three telephone numbers. On 29 March 2013, he filed a complaint against unknown persons for robbery and the death threats made through anonymous telephone calls. 4. Following investigations carried out by the “criminal police”, it emerged that one of the telephone numbers belonged to one of the Applicants while the two other numbers were, respectively, those of his nephew and a public telephone booth. 5. Arrested by the criminal police, the First Applicant admitted to making phones calls threatening to kill Advocate Zebro Seydou in revenge, for having been fired from his job as security guard at the latter’s law firm. It also emerges from the record that he admitted to being the instigator of the 27 March 2013 attack on the lawyer, with the help of the two other Applicants, who were both members of the Republican forces of Côte d’Ivoire assigned to the presidential motorcade. In addition to participating in the robbery, they were responsible for renting the vehicle and providing the firearms used in the robbery, as well as for trailing the lawyer. 6. By judgment of 23 April 2013, the Abidjan District Court found them guilty of gang robbery, illegal possession of firearms and issuing of death threats, and sentenced them to twenty (20) years in prison. On 25 February 2015, the Abidjan Court of Appeal upheld the District Court’s judgment in its entirety. Believing that they were not afforded a fair trial, the Applicants filed an application before this Court. 3