SUMMARY OF THE CASE IN APPLICATION NGUZA VIKING (BABU SEYA),
1ST APPLICANT AND JOHNSON NGUZA (Papi kocha), 2nd Applicant) v.
UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA, APPLICATION No. 006/2015
1. Summary of the facts
The Applicants, Mr. Nguza Viking and Mr. Johnson Nguza are citizens of the
Democratic Republic of Congo and lived and worked as musicians in Dar es
Salaam, Tanzania. The second Applicant (Johnson Nguza) is the first Applicant’s
(Nguza Viking) biological son.
All applicants were arrested on 12th day of
October, 2003 and transferred to the Magomeni Police Station. The Applicants
and another person (later known as a teacher) were arraigned before the
Resident Magistrate Court of Kisutu (Dar es Salaam) on 16th day of October,
2003 and were charged with 10 counts of rape and 11 counts of sodomy. They
pleaded not guilty to all charges. The ten alleged victims were all children
between six and eight years old and were from the same classes. It was alleged
that they were gang raped and sodomized in turns by four adults. After a full trial,
the Court ruled on the matter on 25th day of June, 2004, in favor of the
prosecution and sentenced the Applicants to serve a term of life imprisonment.
Only the fifth accused, the teacher, was acquitted. The Applicants appealed to
the High Court of Tanzania but the appeal was dismissed. They appealed to the
Tanzania Court of Appeal and two other accused in the trial were acquitted, but
both Applicants’ sentences were uphold on four remaining rape charges. After
the appeal of the Applicants was dismissed by the Tanzania Court of Appeal,
they filed for an application for review that was later dismissed. The applicants
state they have exhausted all local remedies.
2. Alleged violations
The Applicants allege that the Respondent state violated Article 1, 2, 3, 5, 7(1)b),
13 and 18(1) of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. They submit
that after the arrest, they were not promptly informed of what charges they were
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