Cassation Court seeking authorisation to institute proceedings against Soro Guillaume Kigbafori, Kamarate Souleymane, Nguessan N. René. On 17 January 2020, the Cassation Court authorised the prosecution and appointed a judge to conduct the necessary investigation. On 2 March 2020, that is, one month and 13 days later, the Applicants seized this Court while the investigation was still on-going. 43. It follows that, at the time of filing the present Application, the criminal proceedings against Mr Guillaume Kigbafori Soro, Mr Kamarate Souleymane and Mr Nguessan N. René were ongoing. Consequently, the above-mentioned Applicants seized this Court prematurely seeing as they did not await the end of the domestic proceedings against them, and therefore did not exhaust local remedies. 44. With regard to the second set of proceedings, the Court notes that the record shows that a judicial investigation was opened by the investigating judge of the 8th Investigating Office of the Abidjan Court of First Instance. On 24 December 2019, the said court charged the Applicants with the offences listed in paragraph 41 of this judgment and remanded them in custody, with the exception of Mr Guillaume Kigbafori Soro, in respect of whom an arrest warrant was issued. The Court further notes that on 26 December 2019 and 7 February 2020 the Applicants’ lawyers appealed the committal order before the Investigating Chamber of the Abidjan Court of Appeal. 45. In this regard, pursuant to Article 239(1) of the Ivorian Code of Criminal Procedure, “the investigating chamber shall, in all cases, including cases of pre-trial detention, examine the legality of the proceedings before it. If it finds any grounds for annulment, it shall declare the act in question null and void and, if appropriate, all or part of the subsequent proceedings”. The Court therefore considers that the appeal by the Applicants’ lawyers is an effective remedy insofar as the investigating chamber is empowered to terminate any irregularity by vacating the proceedings initiated by the investigating judge. 12