appellate court, the Respondent State will be deemed to have had the
opportunity to redress the violations alleged by the applicant to have arisen
from those proceedings.14
45. In the instant case, the Court notes that the Applicant’s appeal before the
Court of Appeal, the highest judicial organ of the Respondent State, was
determined when that Court rendered its judgment on 7 March 2013.
Therefore, the Respondent State had the opportunity to address the
violations alleged by the Applicant arising from the Applicant’s trial and
appeals. The Court further notes that the Applicant’s allegations form part
of the “bundle of rights and guarantees” relating to the right to a fair trial
which was the basis of the Applicant’s appeals in domestic courts.15
46. Regarding the Respondent State’s contention that the Applicant ought to
have filed a constitutional petition, the Court has previously held that the
Court of Appeal of Tanzania is the highest judicial organ within the
Respondent State and that the constitutional petition procedure is an
extraordinary remedy in the Respondent State that applicants are not
required to exhaust.16
47. The Court, therefore, finds that local remedies are deemed to have been
exhausted since the Court of Appeal upheld the Applicant’s conviction and
sentence.
48. In light of the foregoing, the Court dismisses the Respondent State’s
objection based on non-exhaustion of local remedies and holds that local
remedies were exhausted in the present Application.
ii. Objection based on the failure to file the Application within a reasonable
time
14
Mohamed Abubakari v. United Republic of Tanzania (merits) (3 June 2016) 1 AfCLR 599, § 76;
Mohamed Selemani Marwa v. United Republic of Tanzania, ACtHPR, Application No. 014/2016
Judgment of 2 December 2021 (merits and reparations), § 45; Rajabu Yusuph v. United Republic of
Tanzania, ACtHPR, Application No. 036/2017 Ruling of 24 March 2022 (admissibility), § 51.
15 Alex Thomas v. United Republic of Tanzania (merits) (20 November 2015) 1 AfCLR 465, § 62.
16 Ibid, §§ 63-65.
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