001366
Majuru v. Zimbabwe, the Respondent State prays the Court to declare the
matter inadmissible since the Applicants took more than six months to file the
Application after exhaustlng local remedies.
47. The Applicants on their part contend that the Application must be considered to
have been filed within a reasonable time given the circumstances of the matter
and their situation as they are lay, indigent and incarcerated persons. They
further pray the Court to take into consideration the time that they spent in trying
to have their request for review heard before the Court of Appeal where the
case was adjourned several times.
48.The Court recalls that, pursuant to Article 56(6) of the Charter, applications
before it are to be filed within a reasonable time after exhausting local remedies
"... or from the date set by the Court as being the commencement of the time
limit within which it shall be seized with the mattef'.
49. The Court notes that, in the present case, the time within which the Application
should be filed is to be computed from the date of the judgment of the court of
Appeal, which is 22March 2013. Since the Application was filed before this
Court on 26 March 2015, the period to be considered is of two (2) years and
four (4) days.
50.
lt is established case-law of this court that the requirement for an Application
to be filed within a reasonable time after exhaustion of local remedies is to be
assessed on a case-by-case basis.T Among other relevant factors, the Court
has based its evaluation on the situation of the Applicants, including whether
they had tried to exhaust further remedies, or if they were lay, indigent or
incarcerated persons.s
7 see Armand Guehi
v. Tanzania (Merits and Reparations), SS s5-57. see also werema wangoko
werema and Another v. Tanzania (Merits), SS 4s-s0; Norbert Zongo and others v. Burkina Faso
(Preliminary objections) (2013) 1 AfcLR 197, S 121;and Atex Thomas v. Tanzania (Merits),
SS 73-74.
8
S
See Chflstoph er Jonas v. Tanzania (Merits), $ 53. See also Mohamed Abubakari v. Tanzanii (Merits),
92; and Alex Thomas v. Tanzania (Merits), S 74.
t6