should be no secret detentions and States must disclose the fact that someone is being detained as well as the place of detention. Every detained person must have prompt access to a lawyer and to their families" .... 45 136. The Complainants also submit that during the period of his arbitrary detention, the Victim was also denied access to consular assistance in contravention of •Article 36 (1) of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations 1963 which has been interpreted to confer rights on both the national to access his or her consulate and the state to access his or her national. Alleged Violation of Article 7 of the African Charter 137. The Complainants submit that the Victim was denied the right to have his cause heard in violation of Article 7 of the African Charter. 138. The Complainants state that Article 7 of the African Charter is violated in that the Victim was dented the right to challenge his detention by way of a habeas corpus application before a judicial authority; and the right to have his detention reviewed on a periodic basis by a court of law or other appropriate judicial authority. The Complainants state that the Commission has held that even in cases in which the period of detention before being brought before a judge is e~panded marginally, the individual detained must still have the right to make a habeas corpus application to challenge the detention and access to a lawyer46 . 139.The Complainants further state that the Victim's Article 6 and 7 of the African Charter rights were violated in that he was denied the right to be brought promptly before a judicial authority and the right to have his cause heard. The :ComplaiI1arits submit that not only was the Victim detained for 23 months without being brought promptly before a judicial authority, he was also not tried. The Complainants refer to Resolution on the Right to Recourse and Fair Trial, in which the Commission recognized that Article 7 (1) of the African Charter entails that "[p]ersons arrested or detained shall be brought promptly before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and shall be entitled to trial within a reasonable time or be released47. The Complainants also refer to the Commission's decision where it held that refusal and/ or negligence" of the