c.
Are not written in disparaging or insulting language directed
against the State concerned and its institutions or the African
Union;
d.
Are not based exclusively on news disseminated through the
mass media;
e.
Are sent after exhausting local remedies, if any, unless it is
obvious that the procedure is unduly prolonged;
f.
Are submitted within a reasonable time from the date local
remedies were exhausted or from the date set by the Court as
being the commencement of the time-limit within which it shall be
seised with the matter; and
g.
Do not deal with cases which have been settled by those States
involved in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the
United Nations, or the Constitutive Act of the African Union or the
provisions of the Charter.
20. The Court notes that, in the instant case, the Respondent State raises two
objections to admissibility, one based on non-exhaustion of local remedies
(A) and the other on the Application having been filed within an
unreasonable time. The Court will rule on the objections before examining,
if necessary, the other conditions of admissibility (B).
A. Objection based on non-exhaustion of local remedies
21. The Respondent State submits that the Application is inadmissible for nonexhaustion of local remedies. It contends that it was not given the
opportunity to remedy the alleged violations inasmuch as those violations
were never brought before its courts. It emphasises that the application of
the rule on exhaustion of local remedies should enable its superior courts
to remedy the failings of the lower courts.
22. The Respondent State contends that the Applicant himself acknowledges
that he did not file a cassation appeal, which is an available, satisfactory
and effective remedy, even though the judgment of the Abidjan Court of
Appeal could have been the subject of such an appeal.
7