000$19
of being outside the country, due to the fear for his
life."
18
lt therefore held that even
though in theory the domestic remedies were available, they were not effective, and
could not be pursued without much impediment.
72.This Court has, in lhe Lohe lssa Konatd v Burkina case, also held
that "a remedy can be considered to be available or accessible
when it may be used by the Applicant without impediment".le
73.|n the instant case, the Court notes that, the Second and Fifth Applicants faced
charges of serious crimes and fled from the Respondent State's territory. They have
indicated that they fear for their security. Furthermore, all the Applicants are outside
the Respondent State's territory and their travel documents having been invalidated
lt is reasonable, in view of the manner in which the
Applicants learnt of the invalidation of their passports, for them to have been
without formal notification.
apprehensive about their security and fear for their lives. The serious nature of the
crimes relating to the two Applicants may also have resulted in difficulties in all the
Applicants designating Counsel to file a claim on their behalf before the domestic
courts regarding the invalidation of their passports. ln the circumstances of the
Applicants' case the Court therefore finds that the local remedies were not available
for the Applicants to utilise.
74.The objection to the admissibility of the Application based on non-exhaustion of local
remedies is therefore dismissed.
B. Gonditions of admissibility that are not in contention between the Parties
75.The Court notes that there is no contention regarding compliance with the conditions
set out in Rule 40, sub-rules, 4, 6 and 7 of the Rules on the nature of the evidence
adduced, the filing of the Application within a reasonable time after exhaustion of
lsCommunication 288/04 Gabriel Shumba v Zimbabwe (ACHPR 2012)
574
1s
Loh6 /ssa Konate v. Burkina Faso, (merits) (2014) 1 AfCLR 314 S 96.
18
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