\C~~'f)ACHPR . 't(l:o:m!~ African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights Human Rights OUf Collective Responsibility remedy by competent national tribunals for acts violating the rights guaranteed by the Constitution, the law or the African Charter, regardless of whether the acts were committed by persons acting in an official capacity.f The Commission also notes that the right to an effective remedy includes: access to justice; reparation for the harm suffered; and access to the factual information concerning the violations. 147. In the present case, there is no doubt that the incommunicado detention of hundreds of civilians in South Kordofan and Blue Nile without trial not only runs contrary to the Sudanese Constitution, but also violates the provisions of Article 7(1)(a)of the African Charter. 148. The Commission, therefore, finds that the arbitrary arrests, incommunicado detention and detention without trial of large numbers of civilians in the two affected regions of the Respondent State over the course of two years amounts to massive violations of not only the right to liberty and security of the person but also of access to effective remedies. As with its undertaking under the African Charter, the Respondent State has an obligation to apply due process of law in relation to persons who have been subject of arrests and detention and to guarantee their right to a fair trial before a competent court or tribunal. 149. The right to effective remedies under Article 7(1)(a) of the African Charter entails the obligation on the part of the Respondent State to investigate, hoyand punish violators of human rights among its security personnel. The failure and neglect on the part of the Respondent to respect this right, in relation to those arbitrarily arrested and detained without trial, within a reasonable time or to hold those members of its security agencies responsible for various human rights violations, amounts to a violation of the right to a remedy under the African Charter. 150. As such, the Commission finds that the Respondent State's arrests, prolonged detention without trial and incommunicado detention of hundreds of civilians were arbitrary and violated Article 7(1)(a)of the African Charter. Alleged violation of Article 9(1) of the African Charter 151. The Complainants alleged that by effectively closing the region of South Kordo£an and Blue Nile states to national and international media, and by preventing national media from reporting on the violations committed by the Respondent State in both states, the Respondent State restricted the right of 45 As above, para C 30 An Org.n 01 (he African // ..~~ Union ~~;.".-:l