In ASSIMA KOKOU INNOCENT & ORS v. REPUBLIC OF TOGO (2013)
CCJELR 187 pg. 201 & 202 para 59, this Court insisted that “before it concludes
on the issue of occurrence of human rights violation, the concrete proof of the fact
upon which the Applicants’ based their claims must be established with high
degree of certainty, or at least there must be a high possibility of the claims
appearing to be true upon scrutiny. In this regard, mere allegations do not suffice
to elicit the conviction of the Court”.
The Court recalls its earlier affirmation that it considers the pre-trial stage
(investigation) as an essential component of a criminal proceedings since the quality
or otherwise of investigation is likely to affect the overall fairness of the trial. To
this end, the Court holds that the Plaintiff was removed from office as Chief Justice
of The Gambia and subsequently tried and convicted without proper investigation
which compromised the due process required in the case of the Plaintiff.
In the decided case of CAN V. AUSTRIA, NO. 9300/81, COMMISSION’S REPORT OF
12 JULY 1984, § 48, SERIES A NO. 96), the ECHR had this to say;
“Compliance with the requirements of a fair trial must be examined in each case
having regard to the development of the proceedings as a whole and not on the
basis of an isolated consideration of one particular aspect or one particular
incident, although it cannot be excluded that a specific factor may be so decisive
as to enable the fairness of the trial to be assessed at an earlier stage in the
proceedings “
This Court is not unaware of the fact that the Plaintiff has equally raised other aspects
of his trial that compromised the required due process and fairness provided for
under the international instruments he has cited in support of his case. Among others,
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