any element of possible violation of Article 4 and 6 of the African Charter. The
Court so holds.
Turning now to Article 7 which has been reproduced above, the essential
ingredients are the right to appeal, the right to be presumed innocent until
proven guilty, the right to defense by counsel of your choice, the right to be
tried within a reasonable time by impartial court, and freedom from retroactive
punishment. Though the Plaintiff alleged a violation of this article by the
defendants they were not specific as to which of the ingredients were violated.
As explained earlier, the Plaintiffs by their presented facts participated all
through the proceedings and even testified on their behalf. They were
represented by a counsel of their choice and no allegation of bias was levelled
against the trial Court. Furthermore, their trial was for an offence which at all
times material was known in law and legally punishable under the law. There
is therefore no material to indicate a possible violation of Article 7.
There is therefore no factual indication of violation of any of the articles to
arouse this court’s jurisdiction under Article 9(4) of the Supplementary
Protocol.
The Plaintiffs’ present application hinges on alleged wrongful admission of an
otherwise admissible evidence to wit: the autopsy report prepared by the 5th
defendant. This contention even if substantiated is an irregularity in
proceedings which is an issue for appeal.
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