69. The Court notes that Article 7(1)(d) of the Charter provides that: "Every individual
shall have the right to have his cause
heard. This right comprises... the right to
be tried within a reasonable time by an impartial court or tribunal.”
70. The Court recalls that, impartiality within the meaning of Article 7(1)(d) of the
Charter
must
be
understood
as
the
absence
of bias
or prejudice
in the
consideration of a case in court.2” As such, bias cannot be presumed and must
be irrefutably proven by the party alleging it.28 Similarly, the Court considers that
it cannot accept allegations of a general nature which are not founded on concrete
evidence?9.
71. With
regard
in
particular
to
the
influence
alleged
by
the
Applicant
in
his
Application, the Court recalls that “the declarations of a single judge cannot be
considered as sufficient to influence the opinion of the entire bench”. The Court
further considers that “...the Applicant failed to illustrate how the judge’s remarks
at the Ordinary Bench later influenced the decision of the Review Bench’.°°
72. Noting that in this case the Supreme Court was composed of a panel of three (3)
judges, the Court considers that the mere fact that a judge sat in a previous case
to which the Applicant was admittedly a party cannot suffice to influence the entire
bench
in another case.
From the record, it is apparent that the Applicant made
reference to enmity between two (2) judges but only explicitly mentioned
Marie Josée Mukandamage.
Judge
In addition, he did not demonstrate how the simple
presence of this judge and her role in the sitting influenced the decision of the
other judges
evidence
in rendering
to show
the
the
alleged
impugned
decision.
impartiality,
Neither did he adduce
especially
because,
any
in light of the
record, he did not request withdrawal of the Judge concerned even though the
21See Alfred Agbesi Woyome v. Republic of Ghana , AfCHPR, Application No. 001/2017. Judgment of
28/6/2019 (Merits and Reparations) § 126; Ingabire Victoire Umuhoza v. Rwanda (Merits) (2017) 2 AfCLR
165, §§ 103 and 104.
28 Alfred Agbesi Woyome v. Republic of Ghana, (Merits and Reparations), § 128.
28 See Alex Thomas v. United Republic of Tanzania (Merits) (2015) 1 AfCLR 465, § 124
30 See Alfred Agbesi Woyome v. Ghana (Merits and Reparations), § 131.
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