:
00ogo
They challenged the legality of the sentence handed down for aiined
robbery. Thus, for them, there is an issue of the applicants' right to a fair
trial. Both of them appealed their convictions and sentences to the Court
of Appeal, which dismissed their appeals. As the highest court of the
Respondent State, the Court of Appeal therefore had the opportunity to
rule on the legality of the sentences invoked by the Applicants' As a
result, the Application of the First and Seventh Applicants was
admissible. The Respondent State's objection on that point was therefore
dismissed.8 The Court concluded that "the Respondent State has not
violated any law",e that it remained in line with its previous decisionsl0
and that of the relevant intemational law.rr
6. The late Jean Riverot2 saw the rules of prior exhaustion of local remedies
of domestic law on the intemational judicial order. This is
an instructive paradox, since it is international judicial law that requires
the national judiciary to consider supremely and overtly the alleged
violations by a national petitioner. The purpose of this being to correct the
breach of the law at the place of commission. This is the main purpose of
this rule of prior exhaustion of local remedies. The question is
undoubtedly different and special for those rules that affect the reserved
areas of the State (The Westphalian State, according to Alain Pelletr3), as
as an influence
I
lbid.,5 55, 57 and 75(v).
e rhid., 75.
S
ArcHPR, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights v. Libya (Judgement on the merits),
2016, RICA, 158; Urbm Mkandawire v. Malawi (Admissibility) (2013), RICA, 291; Frank David
Omary and others v. Tanzania (Admissibility) (2014), RJCA, 371; Peter Joseph Chacha v. Tanzania
(Admissibility) (20 l4), RICA, 41 3.
rrsee AfCHPR, Lohd Issa Konatd v. Burkina Faso, Judgement,5 December 2014. The Court echoed
the Communication on Zimbabwe Lswlters for Human Rights and Associated Newspapers of
Zimbabwe v. Zimbabwe and stated as follows: "lt is a well-established rule of customary international
law that before international proceedings are instituted, the various remedies provided by the State
should have been exhausted (...). "tnternational mechanisms are not substifutes for domestic
implementation of human rights, but should be seen as tools to assist the domestic authorities to
develop a sufficient protection of human rights in their territories. If a victim of a human rights
violation wants to bring an individual case before an international body, he or she must first have tried
to obtain remedy from the national authorities. It must be shown that the State was given an
opportunity to remedy the case itself befbre resorting to an lnternational body. This reflects the fact
that States are not considered to have violated their human rights obligations if they provide genuine
and effective remedies for victims of human rights violations. "(See African Commission on Human
and Peoples' B:ights, Zimbabwe Lowyers for Human Rights & Associaled Newspapers of Zimbabwe v.
Zimbabw e, Communication No. 293104, 1 -22 May 2008, para. 60.
12
Rivero (L), Le problime de l'influence des droits internes sur la Cour de Justice de la Communautd
Europdenne du Charbon et de l'Acier [The problem of the influence of intemal rights on the Court of
Justice of the European Coal and Steel Communityl, AFDI, 1958. pp. 295-308.
13
This concept of a Westphalian State, in that it reinforces the juxtaposition of States, gives an
extension of this reserved area even more important: Pellet (A.), Histoire du droit international :
Irrdductible souverainetd '? G. Guillaume (dir.), La vie intentationale lHistory of international law:
Irreducible sovereignty? G. Guillaume (dir.), International Lifel, Hetmann, Paris,2017, pp.7 to24.
t0
3
r